Altrad Sparrows
“bp was the first big company that worked with us and that gave us our foothold in the industry and shaped who we are today.”
On an offshore platform, cranes are an essential lifeline, lifting everything from fuel to food.
Sparrows was originally founded in the UK in 1946 and joined the Altrad Group in 2022, becoming Altrad Sparrows. The company has worked with bp on our offshore platforms for more than five decades, providing specialist crane operations, lifting services and engineering support.
What began with a crane operator on the Forties platform in 1975 has grown into a team of around 80 supporting bp’s North Sea oil and gas operations today. In addition to the core team, the company also provides a range of support functions and ad-hoc personnel to meet project requirements.
Today, Altrad Sparrows supports customers worldwide, employing around 1,000 people in the UK.
Most recently, Altrad Sparrows helped bp to replace a key component – a slew bearing – on bp’s Glen Lyon floating production, storage and offloading facility (FPSO). This involved lifting the crane that usually does the lifting. The crane was not originally designed to have its slew bearing replaced at sea, so Sparrows had to develop a bespoke solution to allow this to happen safely and without disrupting production. Performing maintenance of this kind in open waters is highly specialized, making this a first of its kind for the company.
“bp was the first big company that worked with us and that gave us our foothold in the industry and shaped who we are today,” says Marc Moran, Altrad Sparrows’ business manager for bp.
“Our partnership has not only created sustained employment opportunities, but has also enabled us to develop and retain highly skilled personnel within the region. Working with bp for so long has allowed us to continually evolve and flourish.”
JDR Cables
“Our partnership with bp has helped to open doors across the industry. bp knows exactly what it needs from a project, and that clarity helps us to raise our game. It shapes how we work with our customers, innovate and build capability as a UK manufacturer.”
Offshore platforms rely on cables to connect them to everything from power to communications. For more than two decades, JDR has supplied specialized subsea cables and connections to support bp’s operations across the North Sea and beyond.
The company was originally founded in the UK in 1966 and joined the TFKable Group in 2017. JDR now employs around 650 people globally, including roughly 550 in the UK, where they work across facilities in Littleport near Cambridge, Hartlepool and a newly opened manufacturing site in Blyth.
One of the first major projects to run through the new Blyth factory is the compression cables for a major bp-operated offshore project. bp’s project team has been a regular presence on site, working side by side with JDR engineers to refine the design and oversee production. The close partnership has resulted in the company refining the cable design so there is a lower likelihood of complications once it’s installed offshore.
The experience the company gained through bp projects like this one flows into the rest of JDR’s operations, raising engineering standards and helping the business to secure work with other operators around the world.
“Our partnership with bp has helped to open doors across the industry. bp knows exactly what it needs from a project, and that clarity helps us to raise our game. It shapes how we work with our customers, innovate and build capability as a UK manufacturer,” says Rory Graham, JDR’s sales director.
Oxa
“bp has been fundamental to our success. Having them as both a customer and a long-term investment partner has given the wider market confidence as we continue to scale.”
Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Oxford, Oxa develops self-driving vehicle software and hardware to tow and move goods in locations like ports, airports, and manufacturing facilities, as well as to monitor assets and perimeters at industrial sites.
bp has worked closely with Oxa to run autonomous vehicles within its operations, including some Lightsource bp-managed solar farms. The technology supports people on the ground by improving detection of anomalies, faulty equipment and security threats – driving safety, reliability and efficiency. That’s especially helpful given the sites are often spread over large areas, making it difficult for people to monitor and maintain.
This partnership has helped Oxa to refine its technology and improve the quality of the data its vehicles collect, along with the vehicle’s performance.
Alongside their work together on the ground, bp Ventures has supported Oxa’s growth through multiple investment rounds. bp was an early backer, investing in the company first in 2020, and then in subsequent funding rounds, with the most recent in March 2026.
The long-term commitment has helped to attract additional investors and grow the business. In addition to its Oxford headquarters, the company maintains a strong international presence with an office in Toronto, Canada.
“bp has been fundamental to our success. Having them as both a customer and a long-term investment partner has given the wider market confidence as we continue to scale,” says Paul Newman, Oxa’s founder and CEO.
Oxalis Logistics UK
“bp is a hugely important part of our UK fuel and aviation operations. It represents around a third of what we do in the country, and our long-term strategic relationship means we’re able to work with bp on exciting developments like a new fuel delivery tracking system.”
From forecourts to airports, our customers rely on our partnership with Oxalis Logistics to deliver the fuels they need.
Oxalis runs a dedicated fuel distribution operation for bp, with around 500 drivers and 150 vehicles based across 18 depots around the UK. This network supports bp’s regional aviation customers, as well as more than 1,100 bp-branded forecourts.
bp and Oxalis have worked together since 2014. Oxalis’s structure and scale allow it to quickly adjust its resources so it can deliver fuel where it’s needed, when it’s needed, even in the face of changing demand or challenging weather conditions.
Over the years, bp and Oxalis have built trusted ways of working, strengthened safety performance and continuously improved their operations. In the past year, bp and Oxalis jointly developed its first fuel delivery tracking system. It enables B2B customers to see the exact location of Oxalis’s fuel delivery vehicles and get information on the timing of deliveries. The system aims to improve planning and strengthen coordination with sites.
“bp is a hugely important part of our UK fuel and aviation operations. It represents around a third of what we do in the country, and our long-term strategic relationship means we’re able to work with bp on exciting developments like a new fuel delivery tracking system,” says Roel Steinhage, contract manager, Oxalis Logistics.
RELEX
“For RELEX, this project really sharpened how we handle big, complex rollouts for large organizations.”
Keeping shelves stocked across bp’s 320 company-owned retail sites in the UK is no small task. With new AI platforms available, bp turned to RELEX Solutions to strengthen how products are forecast, stocked and replenished.
Each bp shop carries around 2,500 products, from everyday essentials to food to go. Until recently, planning what to stock, and when, relied heavily on manual forecasting. Working with RELEX, bp introduced an AI-driven planning platform that connects customer retail demand with distribution centres and suppliers.
RELEX first started working with bp in 2023 and, at peak, had around 13 people from the company working on the programme. Headquartered in Finland with around 2,400 employees, the company has offices in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia.
bp’s digital solution was rolled out across the UK in 2025 and since then, product availability at bp retail sites has improved by around 2%, meaning more customers find what they’re looking for, more of the time.
The benefits of the software, however, extend beyond bp. Around 95 suppliers now receive clearer, earlier information on demand from bp sites.
“For RELEX, this project really sharpened how we handle big, complex rollouts for large organizations,” says Nick Cole, RELEX’s director of strategic accounts and bp’s relationship manager.
“We improved how we coordinated multiple teams, planning phased releases and juggling many systems and configurations at once. The hands-on ways we managed changes, testing and team handovers here are now influencing how we run other large programmes, too.”