BP fuels digital innovation to drive net zero

Challenge

Meeting the digital demands of the energy business at speed

BP is one of the largest energy companies in the world, producing 18.4M tonnes of oil per year and powering economic growth with 74,000 employees in over 70 countries. 

As the world demands more energy, it also demands that it be produced and delivered in new ways with fewer emissions. BP is embracing this dual challenge and making bold changes to modernize its business. 

The key to BP achieving these business goals is to unleash the potential of digital solutions, big data and advanced technologies. The BP information technology and services (IT&S) team is increasing the pace of technology delivery and securing data access, while reducing dependencies on costly and time-consuming legacy systems. 

Objectives

Building a foundation for the future

BP IT&S needed to evolve by:

• Modernizing legacy systems to speed up access to applications and data, while also supporting the adoption of new technologies (e.g. mobile, cloud, blockchain, and IoT) 
• Shifting the role of IT from simply delivering technology solutions to enabling the business to take advantage of digital technology  
• Developing a Center for Enablement (C4E) to evangelize BP’s API strategy and drive adoption

Solution

Accelerating IT development speed with an application network

BP has adopted an API strategy with MuleSoft to accelerate IT delivery. By unlocking key systems, applications and data with APIs, central IT can empower the business to self-serve and develop their own technology solutions — speeding up project delivery and supercharging innovation.

“Our API strategy is right at the heart of our application ambition and technology transformation,” says Diana Kennedy, VP, IT&S Strategy, Architecture and Planning, BP. “We can now embed digital in everything that we do.” 

BP established a C4E central incubation team to evangelize APIs the business can self-serve to deliver technology initiatives faster. Today, the C4E serves more than 20 product teams and over 100 APIs are available. 

BP delivered innovative products and services with Anypoint Platform™, including:

• BPme: A mobile app that provides consumers with a frictionless fueling experience, enabling them to easily locate the nearest gas station, pay for fuel, earn rewards, and more. 
• Air BP: A solution to speed up partner onboarding for Air BP, a program that supplies over 6.5B gallons of aviation fuel annually. 
• Strala: A mobile marketplace using blockchain and the internet of things to enable consumers to buy and sell solar energy. 
• Operator Workbench: A tablet app where employees can easily document maintenance data, log hours, and more — driving safety and productivity for workers.

“Before we had an API strategy, it would have required complex planning and specialist developer skills to deliver new products and services to market,” says Paul Schuster, Chief Architect, Digital Platforms, BP. “It would have taken us months to build just one solution. Now, with the Mulesoft Anypoint Platform in place, we can integrate SaaS systems and on-premises applications rapidly.”

BP’s API strategy continues to accelerate IT delivery speed, while maintaining central governance — enabling the IT&S team to deliver on the digital needs of a global energy business. Over a third of the APIs and integrations built are reused. For example, the team initially released the BPme app in specific regions and, after witnessing great success, the team launched the app in new markets twice as fast by simply reusing the same APIs. 

“The success of BPme in the smaller geographies meant that we could roll this out really fast for a lot of countries.” says Karthik Kesavan, Service Owner, C4E, BP. “Within just one year of launching, over one million users have downloaded the BPme app.”

Results

Increasing the pace of technology delivery

BP’s application network, underpinned by APIs, drives faster project delivery and ensures application reliability and scalability. A great example of this is the BPme app, which now allows BP to process over 290,000 transactions daily.

Looking ahead, BP hopes to continue its digital transformation with a modern application architecture.

“When we look for a strategic partner, we are not just looking for a technology, we are looking at the roadmap, team, and vision of that company. MuleSoft's culture and the caliber of the team we worked with made a profound impression on us.”

Diana Kennedy
VP, IT&S Strategy, Architecture and Planning, BP

“MuleSoft has been really great to work with us to evangelize API-led thinking throughout our organization,” said Schuster. “The fundamental challenge we have in BP is how do you democratize that thinking and get that thinking into thousands of people? That is where we will really begin to see the benefits.”