BP 2005 Annual Report Download - page 7

BP Annual Report and Accounts 2005 5
areas of the world where energy demand is increasing most
rapidly. Worldwide, we supply some 13 million customers a
day. Our supply links, including a growing fleet of ships and
the extensive networks of pipelines we operate in many
different parts of the world, helped to sustain global supplies
through all the disruptions experienced in 2005.
EXTERNAL CHALLENGES The oil and gas markets remain volatile.
While we expect prices to remain above the long-run average
for some years to come, we have taken care to ensure that
the business is robust and capable of responding flexibly to
unpredictable events.
Volatility is not the only challenge we face. No company
in the oil and gas industry can fail to recognize that, as the
demand for our products rises, so too does the risk that their
use will contribute to the environmental challenges associated
with an increasing concentration of carbon in the atmosphere.
The science of climate change may be incomplete but we
would be foolish to ignore the mounting evidence and the
conclusion of the world’s most eminent scientists that
precautionary action is necessary.
Over recent years, we have taken steps to reduce
emissions from our own operations and to improve further
the quality of our products. In 2005, we took an important
step with a substantial investment in the development of
an alternative energy business that will offer our customers
new choices of low-carbon energy. BP Alternative Energy
is focused on the power generation sector – the largest
single source of emissions from the use of fossil fuels –
through investments in solar power, wind, gas and hydrogen
power, where the latter employs the new technology
of sequestration, in which carbon is captured and stored,
allowing hydrogen to be used to generate clean, carbon-
free electric power.
This is a long-term, but very exciting, development
that we believe can help meet the energy needs of
a growing world while minimizing the impact on our
common environment.
HUMAN TALENT The other element essential for the long-term
health of the company is the development of human talent.
In all the places in which we operate, we are committed to the
development of people. Within BP, that is reflected in our policies
of inclusion and meritocracy and our determination to develop
individuals, regardless of their background, creed or colour.
Beyond the company, we are committed to the
development of enterprise and education in the communities
in which we work. Our aim is that they are better able to
take advantage of the wealth created by natural resource
development. In 2005, we appointed our first director of
education, whose role will be both to co-ordinate our existing
activity and to develop a continuing programme to maximize
our contribution to the development of human capacity.
Over the last 10 years, the group has broadened its base
of activity – extending beyond the North Sea and Alaska and
developing resources and markets across the world. In places
as diverse as Russia, Angola, Germany, China and Egypt,
BP is now a leading player. In those countries and in all
the places in which we now work, we are committed to
the principle of mutual advantage. BP, as a large multinational
company, can only earn the privilege of operating on a global
basis if in each and every case we can demonstrate that what
we do benefits those with whom we do business as well as
the company itself.
We have much to do and much to learn, but our aspiration
remains unchanged – to be a company that works consistently
and universally in ways that help to sustain the development
of the world of which we are part.
The Lord Browne of Madingley
Group Chief Executive
6 February 2006