Accenture and BP Announce $175 Million Expansion of Outsourcing Agreement in United States

23-May-2001

Accenture and BP announced today a $175 million expansion of BP’s U.S. downstream (refining and marketing) energy outsourcing agreement. BP has selected Accenture to design, build and run critical business systems that support the majority of BP’s U.S. downstream back-office business processes. This new aspect features a solution, based on SAP’s IS-Oil platform, which is designed to improve BP’s downstream business operations by harmonizing key processes and underlying technology. Under the nine-year agreement, Accenture’s Senergy Business Center will provide long-term system support starting in July, 2001. The Senergy Business Center, based in Houston, is the business operation hub for information technology and business process outsourcing services for several leading energy companies. The services include, among others, accounts payable, general accounting, treasury, financial analysis, and application management.

BP has added a number of unique business systems to its portfolio through its recent merger and acquisition efforts of Amoco, Burmah Castrol, and Arco. With this agreement, Accenture is charged with providing end-to-end service for the delivery and operation of an enterprise-wide application enabling improved back-office productivity and quality, while providing a uniform system platform to more rapidly enable future technology and process advances.

This deal builds on the two companies’ January 2000 and December 2000 announcements of $300 million outsourcing agreements to provide financial and administrative (F&A) services, the largest contract of its type ever signed in the downstream energy sector. “Accenture’s record of providing powerful outsourcing solutions made the decision to expand our relationship easy,” said Alan Eilles Downstream CFO, BP. “I have no doubt this will be an efficient and seamless process and will allow BP to focus on our core businesses. This agreement reinforces our commitment to put people, process and technology together with a service provider who will work with us to maximize value for our customers and shareholders.”

“The expansion of our outsourcing relationship with BP is a testament to the results we have achieved by working together,” said Mike Scimo, a partner with Accenture’s energy practice. “The synergies we can exploit through combined business process and technology improvements will accelerate our shared transformation agenda. Accenture is committed to outsourcing and other innovative solutions for the downstream energy industry. We see opportunities that transcend modest improvements in efficiency or cost. By combining Accenture’s outsourcing, venture capital management, and strategic alliances, we will offer solutions to help downstream companies innovate, grow, and achieve considerable competitive advantage.”

This agreement also reinforces the January 2001 commitment by SAP and Accenture to work together to deliver e-business solutions to the energy industry. The global alliance was created to produce solutions and provide related support services, resulting in reduced cycle times and reduced costs for web-enabled enterprise systems and processes.

https://www.chemeurope.com/en/news/3298/accenture-and-bp-announce-175-million-expansion-of-outsourcing-agreement-in-united-states.html