Technology in the US

bp’s Center for High-Performance Computing (CHPC) in Houston has one of the world’s most powerful supercomputers for commercial research, which we have used to make historic breakthroughs in rock physics and advanced seismic imaging, allowing our teams to see deep into the Earth’s subsurface

Leader in digital innovation

Relying on a mix of engineers who maintain the computers and software developers who work with our businesses — the CHPC supports digital innovation across bp, especially in the areas of seismic technology, reservoir engineering, applied sciences and molecular biology.

The CHPC has enough computing power to perform 21 quadrillion operations per second. For perspective, the CHPC has the storage capacity of 90,000 512-gigabyte iPhones, meaning it can hold more than 3,000 times the amount of information in the US Library of Congress.

In 2021, bp geophysicist Joe Dellinger received the Virgil Kauffman Gold Medal from the Society of Exploration Geophysicists for “significant contributions in developing the most effective methodology for seismic imaging with low and super low frequencies.” These innovations would not have been possible without the CHPC.

bp also leverages the CHPC in its partnerships with US Department of Energy National Laboratories, industry and academia to progress leading-edge technologies and the development of innovative solutions to subsurface, computer science and applied science problems faced by the energy industry.

Mapping the Earth’s subsurface

Utilizing CHPC resources, our seismic imaging group developed a technology known as “deblending” to help process some of the more complex datasets we had acquired. We then shared this technology with bp vendors to enable its large-scale application across our portfolio. In recent years, bp used advanced seismic imaging and the CHPC to discover 400 million additional barrels of oil in place at our Atlantis field and 1 billion additional barrels in place at our Thunder Horse field.

Located in San Diego, bp’s Biosciences Center (BSC) is a key component of our global technology business.

Cross-disciplinary excellence

The BSC conducts ground-breaking research and supports low carbon technology development and deployment as well as strategic investments and partnerships.

The team includes dozens of scientists and engineers with cross-disciplinary capabilities in biosciences, chemical engineering, industrial microbiology and computational sciences. At the BSC, we believe we’ve created a differentiated biotechnology capability, which includes some 80,000 tubes, vials and plates of biodiversity archives.

Accelerating low carbon technology

BSC experts provide technology advisory services to a wide range of bp businesses. For example, they help our supply, trading and shipping business with renewable natural gas and low carbon fuels project development, and they help bp ventures evaluate disruptive low carbon technologies and understand different investment possibilities.

In recent years, the BSC team has supported our investment in California-based Fulcrum BioEnergy, which in 2021 finished building the first-ever commercial-scale plant capable of turning household garbage into low-cost, zero-carbon transportation fuels. Meanwhile, the BSC continues to provide engineering support to bp bioenergy.

Other BSC research has examined opportunities for metal recovery from bp’s liquid wastewater streams and whether environmental DNA could help improve impact assessments and monitoring across our businesses.

Beyond lab and business work, the BSC supports world-class independent research programs, including the bp International Centre for Advanced Materials – partnership with leading universities for effective application of advanced materials.

Teams work seamlessly to address a range of global energy industry challenges from hydrogen generation, thermal management and degradation of batteries, to improving asset operations and supporting the development of advanced fuels and lubricants.

Partnership with the University of Illinois

Since it was set-up in 2012, bp-ICAM has funded research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) to help develop new materials that improve the safe operation and reliability of components and systems where routine inspection is difficult.

In 2020, test panels of a self-healing coating developed at UIUC to address corrosion were prepared for long-term trials on bp assets. UIUC has also led efforts to develop lubricant-impregnated surfaces that enhance condensation and improve heat transfer coefficients for low surface tension fluids, such as alcohols or alkenes, which significantly improve operational efficiencies.

The BSC will remain a key driver of innovation for bp.

The Remote Collaboration Center (RCC) based in Houston, which opened in 2011, provides around the clock support for bp’s wells operations across the western hemisphere

Utilizing leading-edge technology to create a collaborative real-time environment, it is devoted entirely to preventing safety incidents, rather than improving performance.

Specialists in the facility are in constant communication with offshore rig teams to monitor and analyze real-time data, focusing on pumps, pits, flow rates and pressures. Onshore teams evaluate and verify that the data they’re monitoring is consistent with agreed execution plans. These specialists have extensive offshore experience, and they send safety issues up the chain of command as needed.

The direct involvement of onshore staff in offshore drilling activity is a prime example of the additional layers of checks and balances that bp continues to implement throughout its business.