Biology of Business

Annual Report and Form 20-F

BP plc

BP plc (2023)

TL;DR

After two disasters, BP recentralized safety while keeping operations distributed—some functions are too important to decentralize.

By Alex Denne

Documents BP's organizational restructuring after two catastrophic failures—showing how companies recentralize safety and risk functions following existential crises while maintaining distributed operational autonomy.

Key Findings from plc (2023)

  • $187 billion revenue across operations in 70+ countries
  • Recentralized safety and operational risk functions post-Deepwater
  • Hybrid architecture: centralized existential risk, distributed operations
  • Dual approval required for critical decisions (operational and safety)
  • Response to Texas City (2005) and Deepwater Horizon (2010) disasters

Related Organisations for Annual Report and Form 20-F