functional work performed out of Singapore,
you realise that BP is a knowledge company.”
Wu briefed John Browne, BP’s chief executive
from 1995 to 2007, when he visited in 2005. The
next step was to share and sell the concept to
Singapore was the logical place to base the
Company’s Asian trading business, but in addition
has acquired importance for BP as a knowledgecentre containing one of only three ‘Mega-Data’
centres in the world operated by the Company.
a bigger audience. Apart from its Singapore
staff of about 400 then, BP also had to assure
another important stakeholder: the Singapore
government." He briefed the Prime Minister about
BP’s repositioning as a knowledge company
and Singapore’s continued importance to the
company’s global operations John Browne put at
ease any concerns that BP might be pulling out of
Singapore,” said Wu. As a country head, he gave
a separate presentation to Lim Hwee Hua, then
the Second Finance Minister, and a team of senior
bureaucrats from different ministries. As with its
takeover of Maruzen Toyo in 1964, BP found the
Singapore government extremely supportive
of its repositioning and rebuilding plan. Wu’s
strategy paper and presentation on making BP
Singapore into a knowledge company has been
admitted as part of the company’s history. With
that accomplished, Wu retired at the end of 2006.
Across the span of 45 years, BP has evolved from
having a modest refining and marketing business,
making Singapore today the hub for a business
that includes lubricants, marine and aviation fuels,
a regional trading centre for IST in oil and gas, and
a knowledge and administration centre for BP in
Asia. The company employs about 700 people in
Singapore, most of them local, and has promoted
its reputation for environmental responsibility
and social concern in a variety of projects.
Since 2001, BP has developed its Integrated Supply
and Trading (IST) business using Singapore as
the hub for its trading network in Asia. IST was
formed in 2001 two decades after BP had begun
to develop a trading business to manage the flow
of oil and gas to its customers around the world
BP, a great place to work at.
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