Oracle to offer BP software for downstream industry

June 18, 1997 Oracle Corp. and British Petroleum (BP) have signed a letter of intent for Oracle to acquire and distribute BP's downstream oil commercial processing software solution called ISP. As part of the agreement, Oracle will hire the majority of BP's ISP product development team. Oracle will begin selling the product world-wide once the final contract is signed. Oracle does not anticipate taking any financial charges in connection with the transaction, and the company anticipates this transaction to be completed by the end of July. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. BP will receive a royalty on license sales.
This acquisition is part of Oracle's corporate initiative to provide application solutions specifically tailored to the needs of major industries. Oracle's existing suite of oil and gas offerings, most notably for oil and gas exploration and production, are further strengthened with the addition of the ISP solution for refining and distribution. In addition, Oracle plans to enlist itsGEMMS product, further establishing Oracle as the only software provider to offer a comprehensive and competitive solution to upstream and downstream energy customers.
BP has invested more than 1,000 person-years to develop a software solution that provides the specific features and capabilities suited to the oil business. The product has been supporting BP's global operations for more than three years.
"This is proven software that was built by an oil company to address oil company operations," said Ray Lane, Oracle President and COO. "By commercialising this product, Oracle can offer oil companies the best of two worlds: all the industry-specific features of oil business software created by a major oil company, and the advanced software technology and stability of an Oracle-branded product, backed by our global consulting, service and support organisations."
BP's oil and gas solution is a fully-integrated system designed to address the complete range of downstream energy business processes using best practices for multinational companies. BP began to develop the product seven years ago by integrating an oil company operating model with Oracle's technology and tools. The product, which is comprised of several distinct modules, streamlines all downstream commercial transactions including supply, distribution, sales and marketing, accounting and taxation. The product includes a highly configurable and flexible architecture to support organisational change and provide a greater level of information access across the enterprise. The product supports multiple currencies and is currently implemented in 12 countries.