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An Assessment of Bp's Objectives, Risks and Controls

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Submitted By songyue1215
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Pages 7
Yue Song
University of Maryland
12/9/2012

An Assessment of BP’s Objectives, Risks and Controls

General Introduction
BP (formerly known as British Petroleum) is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, UK and operating in more than 80 countries. Vertically involved in almost all areas of the oil and gas industry (exploration, production, refining, petrochemical products, power generation etc.), it provides its customers with fuel for transportation, energy for heat and light, retail services and petrochemical products for everyday items. As one of the world’s leading energy enterprises, it earned total revenues of $308,928 million in 2011, ranking fourth of all companies in the world.
Strategies and Objectives
BP’s businesses cover three main segments: upstream, downstream and alternative energy, each of which has its own strategies and objectives that play to their strengths. The upstream segment includes such activities as oil and gas exploration, field development and production, midstream transportation, storage and processing, and the marketing and trading of natural gas. Of all these activities, BP is strategically increasing its investment in exploration, especially in deepwater and giant fields, expecting to maximize its technical resources and leadership in the energy industry. The downstream segment consists of three main businesses: fuels, lubricants and petrochemicals, which all together are responsible for refining, manufacturing, marketing, transporting and supplying crude oil, petrochemical products and related services to wholesale and retail customers. While seeking strategic collaboration with equipment manufacturing partners and franchisees, BP aims at providing more valuable finished products with cheaper feedstocks and expects future growth mainly in the demand center of Asia. Another segment,

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