London, 17 July 2012: BP is setting out its vision for ‘Fuelling the Future’ in the global spotlight of the London 2012 Olympic Games.
As Official Oil and Gas Partner of London 2012, BP is providing advanced fuels and lubricants for the official fleet of over 5,000 vehicles. And through a range of public and business showcases the company will share how it is helping to meet the global lower carbon energy demands of today and the coming decades.
Said Jackie Fionda, VP Fuels Marketing at BP: “Our mission is to provide smarter, more efficient fuel solutions for consumers. We do this by working together with motor manufacturers in a collaboration which helps reduce CO2 from engines through the use of advanced fuels and lubricants which we co-engineer for maximum effect. Working together in this way enables us to bring breakthrough solutions to market such as those we will trial at The Games - helping meet London 2012’s lower-carbon goals, together with BMW.”
BP’s latest generation Ultimate petrol and diesel fuels will be used to fuel the majority of the official London 2012 fleet – provided by BP’s future fuels partner, BMW.
In addition, Castrol, the leading brand within BP's lubricants business, is providing the London 2012 fleet with its range of oils and lubricants. This includes Castrol EDGE with Fluid Strength Technology and Castrol Fuel Economy Axle Fluid that will further reduce the fleet’s fuel consumption and emissions.
BP has harnessed cutting edge biotechnology to develop three game changing biofuels which will be demonstrated for the first time here at the Games.
Philip New, CEO BP Biofuels, explained: “These breakthrough technologies will redefine biofuels. By incorporating them in the fuels for London 2012 we have taken the next generation of biofuels from the laboratory to the road.”
These advanced biofuel blends have been specially produced to be trialled in around 100 vehicles of the Games’ fleet.
One of the three advanced biofuels is made from purpose-grown energy grasses. It is called cellulosic ethanol. Blended with BP Ultimate unleaded it is, at 103, the highest-octane fuel ever pumped from a UK forecourt.
Another of the biofuels transforms sugars into a renewable diesel fuel that performs like conventional diesel. Sugar-to-diesel can be made from any source of sugar and BP is currently developing the technology to take it from lab to pump.
The third advanced biofuel is biobutanol, made by the advanced fermentation of plant sugars by a special microorganism. The result is today’s highest energy density gasoline biofuel, delivering more miles per tank and offering excellent compatibility with modern engines compared to conventional biofuels. The biobutanol used to fuel part of the Games fleet has been produced in the Butamax joint venture demonstration plant, constructed by BP and DuPont in the UK (Hull). This plant is at the forefront of developing the biobutanol technology which will be deployed globally at full commercial scale.
Said Philip New: “We are the only company in the world with the capability to connect expertise from the laboratory to the farm, to the factory and through to the driver.”
BP believes that biofuels done well have a real part to play in meeting the energy demands of the future. Currently biofuels already make up three per cent of transport fuels used around the world and BP estimates they could account for seven per cent of all transport fuels by 2030.(1)
(1)BP energy Outlook