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Graduate programs

Whether you’re involved in commercial deal making, analyzing markets or moving energy all over the world - you’ll be part of a company committed to growing our business – and your career  

 

Search and apply

 

To find a suitable role, use our candidate matching tool below. Here you’ll find the position that’s right for you and be given the opportunity to apply.

 

Please note: You can apply to one bp early careers opportunity globally per academic year. If you make multiple applications within the same academic year, then we will only process the first application you make, and you’ll be withdrawn from any subsequent applications. The list of matched roles below are in no particular order. We recommend you explore each role that is suggested for you and apply to the one you’re most interested in.

Overview

As one of the world’s most developed commodity trading businesses, our trading & shipping arm keeps the planet’s energy moving. With an extensive portfolio and expertise in physical supply and trading and bespoke financial structures, this part of bp enables over 12,000 customers to make the most of their assets – all while offering people like you an excellent place to begin a rewarding career.

 

Alongside a unique opportunity to act as a key integrator of multi-energy solutions across bp, trading & shipping is perfectly placed to support the company’s journey to net zero whilst delivering distinctive competitive advantage. To do this, we’ll need to be constantly pursuing commercial opportunities. Optimizing our core businesses. Looking for new revenue streams. Striving for more innovative digital and customer solutions, as well as building closer collaboration across bp and beyond. Throughout, the deep expertise and leadership of our people will be key to helping us continue to be one of the world’s leading energy traders.  

 

That’s why we’re looking for the sharpest minds and brightest talent and empowering them to progress in our inclusive and agile culture. By joining trading & shipping, you’ll have the opportunity to be a part of it all, while working with some of the most dynamic, diverse and high performing teams around.  

Graduate programs

Our trading & shipping program is global in nature, you’ll benefit from the same outstanding training, development and support wherever you’re based. Alongside this, the rotational structure of our program has been developed to give you choices that will challenge you in many different ways – all of which will build your confidence, expertise and experience at pace, giving you the flexibility to take your career in the direction that suits you best.

 

The learning and education team will be on hand to ensure that you’re involved in projects and roles of significant value – giving you exposure to markets, deal making and stretch opportunities. There’s also an excellent chance that you’ll be involved in new and exciting projects, such as unexplored areas of analysis, optimization or commercial opportunity. And, whether you’re learning on the job or in the classroom, joining our trading & shipping program is the perfect springboard to a rewarding career.

Trading & shipping - development program

Once hired into the graduate program your world-class learning journey will incorporate online and virtual learning with face-to-face classroom and on-the-job training giving you the behavioural and technical skills you need to build a truly outstanding career.  

 

On top of this, you’ll have a buddy and mentor assigned to you, helping you to navigate the organisation, guide your development and learn what it takes to be successful in your career. We have designed the program to enable flexibility, whereby we will discuss your development track preference during the application process and how your preference aligns with your performance in the selection process. Once you have joined bp and become part of the trading & shipping - development program we will consider changes to your development track within the first year. The decision to change tracks will be based upon your performance in your 1st year job rotation and the 1st year assessments. Please note if you enter the program under the general track, we will work with you to determine your specific track within your 1st year at bp. Rest assured that wherever you go at bp, you’ll have a supportive, collaborative team on your side. 

Our trading & shipping development tracks include:

Trading

When you join our energy trading team, you’ll be part of managing our trades on all of the major energy commodity exchanges and the OTC market as well as our daily exposure to global currency and interest rate fluctuations.

 

You’ll have the opportunity to experience different trading disciplines and styles from physical trading to paper trading, and may even have the opportunity to specialize in quantitative or financial markets trading. Beyond that, you’ll have the chance to work across rotations, including market analytics, physical operations, chartering, and working as a trading analyst for one of our trading benches.
 
So, if you have passion, ambition and enthusiasm, why not pursue your goals with a business at the cutting edge of trading and explore your opportunities within trading & shipping?

Analytics

As an analyst, you’ll have the opportunity to directly influence the bottom line as part of a highly commercial and skilled team. Working in the fast-paced world of our trading floors and with access to vast amounts of data and information, you’ll focus on driving continued growth in trading profits and acting as a subject matter expert on energy market fundamentals.

 

Our Analytics organization includes specialists working in market analytics, structuring and data science. And depending on your focus, possible rotations in data strategy, in market analytics on the cross-bench team or with a specific trading bench, or in structuring where you will be supporting the origination of many exciting new projects across the oil, gas, power and low carbon markets.  

Commercial

Every year, bp invests billions of dollars searching for new sources of energy and supplying our customers with the fuels they need.

 

You’ll help to ensure we make the best use of our investment. We want you to be in the best position to propose new and creative ways to maximise value.

 

There are many commercial teams responsible for building and maintaining key relationships, developing unique solutions to address bp’s and our customer’s business needs and creating additional value for our trading business. Our rotations include marketing & origination, structured products, trading operations, chartering and strategy.  

How we do it

Now that you know a little more about what we do, we’d like to take the opportunity to share some details around how we do it and why our approach makes us stand out from the crowd.  

At bp, we take great pride in our open and collaborative approach to commercialism, and the support we offer to our people as they use their drive, enthusiasm and entrepreneurial edge to contribute to our success. We’re also strong believers in equality and inclusion. It’s one of the reasons why we maintain a flat structure and have open trading floor plan – giving you access to colleagues from diverse backgrounds, with differing perspectives and levels of experience.
We take talent from diverse backgrounds who have an interest in financial markets and have the drive and aptitude to succeed. If you can bring a commercial focus, entrepreneurial mindset, curiosity and flexibility, our trading & shipping program will connect you with some of the very best training and development in the industry. We’re talking responsibility from day one. Roles and projects that impact the bottom line. Field trips to refineries, ships, tank farms and beyond. A buddy scheme pairing you up with a current employee. And much, much more besides. If you’re looking to learn and grow your skills, there really is no better place to do so than with bp.
We know that our success is directly linked to behaving ethically and looking after what matters most – our people. It’s why we’ve worked so hard to build trading & shipping into a welcoming environment where representation and inclusion are always top of mind. Where the mental health and well-being of every colleague is respected and safeguarded – both inside and out of work. Where employees have a voice – they’re actively encouraged to share their ideas while we listen. Where we play by the rules, striking deals in an ethical and responsible way. And where outreach programs help us give back to the diverse communities our employees represent. Put simply, this is trading with a purpose – and we all profit as a result.
Joining trading & shipping as a student or graduate is your opportunity to transform your future – and play an integral part in helping us do likewise. As previously mentioned, we’ve got ambitious plans to reinvent bp, starting with achieving net zero status across our operations by 2050 or sooner, and cutting the carbon intensity of the products we sell by 50% in the same timeframe. Alongside this, we’re increasing the proportion of investment we make into non-oil and gas business. For you, that means developing your skills during a pivotal moment of our history and applying your talents to high profile initiatives set to redefine our role within the energy industry. Make a success of it, and there’s no telling how far you could go within bp after you complete your program.

Rewards and benefits

Rewards and benefits
  • A competitive salary.
  • Additional financial rewards for individual or team performance.
  • Generous holiday.  

Requirements

Smiling student using a tablet computer
  • Be a final year student or have less than two years professional work experience.
  • A passion for, and commitment to, responsible energy.
  • Strong academic record in any degree discipline (bachelor’s or master’s degree).  

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