BP Expands Business Process Outsourcing Agreement withPricewaterhouseCoopers to Include ARCO and...

Business Editors

NEW YORK & HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 7, 2000

Growing Relationship Underscores Success in

Increasing Operating Efficiencies and Supporting Long-term Growth

BP (NYSE: BP), a leader in the global energy industry, and PricewaterhouseCoopers,

the world's largest professional services organization, today announced an agreement to expand their business process outsourcing (BPO) relationship in North America to include BP's recently acquired ARCO and Vastar onshore and offshore US lower 48 operations and certain additional corporate activities.

The contract addition, with a value of over $200 million over a 9-year period, results from the successful relationship the two organizations established four years ago in 1996 when BP began outsourcing key back office operations and applications to PricewaterhouseCoopers first in South America and later in Europe and most recently, in the U.S. and Canada.

Tom Blewitt, the PwC Contract Manager and Lower 48 Upstream Controller at BP, said, "In managing our finance and accounting operations, PricewaterhouseCoopers has proven an effective outsource provider. They've demonstrated an ability to step up in scope and scale to meet our growing needs, allowing us to efficiently handle the accounting and finance of our growing portfolio of assets."

Under the terms of the agreement, PricewaterhouseCoopers will integrate BP's recently acquired US lower 48 onshore and offshore operations with accounting process, information technology applications support and related IT services currently provided to BP. Approximately 150 new employees will be added to provide these services through PricewaterhouseCoopers' Energy Centres of Excellence (COE), one of the largest BPO service facilities in the world, with operations in Tulsa, Chicago and Houston. As part of the integration, PricewaterhouseCoopers will expand its Houston operations to offer offshore Gulf of Mexico production and revenue accounting processing.

Raymond Bayley, partner in charge of the North American BPO practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers, said, "Global leaders like BP figured out long before anyone else how business process outsourcing can play a key role in helping them manage accelerated growth, particularly when achieved through mergers and acquisitions. Our service network is structured to scale up to the level of back office support that our clients might need at any time - and to provide this support in a more cost-effective way than clients can do on their own."

Rebecca Scholl, BPO analyst at Gartner Dataquest, said, "The expansion of BP's relationship with PricewaterhouseCoopers to serve their newly acquired operations confirms BP's consistent use of strategic outsourcing and their satisfaction with PricewaterhouseCoopers, one year after their initial $1.1 billion US contract."

In recognition of PricewaterhouseCoopers' successful relationship with BP, the Outsourcing Journal awarded the BPO group its prestigious Best BPO Relationship Award in 1999 and again in 2000 for its work with BP in South America and Europe, respectively.

Tom Eubanks, head of the PricewaterhouseCoopers Energy COEs, said, "We are eager to bring on board additional professional staff to service BP's growing asset portfolio. When combined with the former BP employees who form the nucleus of our staff, they will create a high-powered BPO team with an exceptional degree of energy and chemicals expertise. We look forward to what this newly combined team will accomplish for our clients."

The Business Process Outsourcing group at PricewaterhouseCoopers (www.pwcglobal.com/bpo) serves as the Global Back Office(R) for multinational corporations and other large organizations around the world - leveraging and integrating the core process expertise of outsourcing professionals in finance/accounting, applications process, procurement, human resources and real estate process.

PricewaterhouseCoopers (www.pwcglobal.com) is the world's leading professional services organization. Drawing on the knowledge and skills of 150,000 people in 150 countries, we help our clients solve complex business problems and measurably enhance their ability to build value, manage risk and improve performance. PricewaterhouseCoopers refers to the U.S. firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and other members of the worldwide PricewaterhouseCoopers organization.

BP (www.bp.com) is an international company involved in the exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas; refining, marketing, supply and transportation of hydrocarbons; and manufacturing and marketing of petrochemicals and solar power generation.

For more information about the Business Process Outsourcing group at PricewaterhouseCoopers, please visit the web site www.pwcglobal.com/bpo or use the Internet Keywords "BPO" or "business process outsourcing."