MOSCOW (MRC) -- BP's refining operations are exposed to high safety risks that can lead to deadly accidents and pollution as a result of slack management and a lack of investment, according to a leaked internal report from 2015, reported Reuters.
The report, co-authored by BP, IBM and industry consultancy WorleyParsons, states that the British company's refining and petrochemical business is trailing rivals such as Royal Dutch Shell by up to seven years in managing information to reduce safety risks and financial losses.
"Inadequate management and use of engineering information has been a root cause or contributing factor" in 15% of 500 high-risk incidents reviewed in the report, which was provided by Greenpeace.
BP has strived to improve its safety record since the 2010 Deepwater Horizon rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico where 11 people were killed and which led to the largest environmental disaster in US history.
In comments on the leaked report, BP said it was "committed to safe, reliable and compliant operations. With that in mind, BP regularly conducts internal assessments in an effort to make improvements to its operations."
"This particular report focused on potential enhancements to how BP manages engineering data. It is not an analysis of any operational incidents, and any suggestion that this report indicates BP is wavering from its safety commitment is wrong," a company spokesman said.
The most significant incident recorded by the authors occurred in January 2014 at the 413,500 bpd Whiting, Indiana refinery which cost BP USD258 million in lost production. The incident at the gasoil hydrotreater unit, which removes sulfur from oil, was due to "multiple deficiencies in engineering information management."
At the Hull petrochemical plant in northern England equipment that was not operated correctly led to losses of $35 million to USD45 million.
BP's safety record came in to focus in 2005 when a blast at its Texas City refinery killed 15 workers and injured 180 others. BP was fined USD84.6 million by the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration between 2005 and 2012 for safety rules violations found at the refinery in investigations following the blast.
The report said highly material safety risk and financial performance issues remained due to "the lack of refining and petrochemicals-wide direction, governance, coordination and investment."
The upstream segment has further work to do, but is however significantly ahead of downstream, the report said, reflecting the big focus BP has placed on safety after the Deepwater Horizon explosion.
We remind that, as MRC informed previously, in early 2016, BP PLC agreed to sell its petrochemical complex in Decatur, Alabama, to Indorama Ventures Public Co. Ltd., for an undisclosed sum, as part BP's plan to restructure its global petrochemicals business. The divestment is in line with BP’s global petrochemicals strategy of pursuing a competitively advantaged portfolio through world-scale, low-cost facilities that utilize BP proprietary technology, including the production of purified terephthalic acid, or PTA, a key raw material in the production of polyester.
BP is a leading producer of oil and gas and produces enough energy annually to light nearly the entire country for a year. Employing about 17,000 people across the country, BP supports more than 170,000 additional jobs through all of its business activities.
MRC