BP partners with MIT and Manchester to pioneer materials and corrosion science

BP has selected the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the University of Manchester as its academic research partners to deepen investigations into materials and corrosion science, thereby strengthening operational integrity and reliability across its exploration and production activities.

In a strategic move, BP announced a major research collaboration with MIT and the University of Manchester. The partnership will be funded with an initial $2 million investment from BP, with the company committing to match this amount for up to four additional years.

The collaboration’s first phase focuses on materials and corrosion science, covering corrosion‑fatigue modelling, environmental cracking, novel coatings, and emerging monitoring technologies. Over time, the research will broaden to encompass other mechanical‑integrity and reliability topics.

As BP expands into deeper reservoirs and harsher operating conditions—higher pressures, temperatures, and fluid velocities—it requires materials and corrosion technologies that can withstand these extreme environments. Likewise, the aging of oil‑and‑gas assets makes corrosion management essential for safe, reliable, and efficient operation of processing facilities and infrastructure.

BP’s Inherently Reliable Facilities (IRF) flagship technology program drives the company’s core understanding of engineering materials and corrosion. The partnership with MIT and Manchester will supply innovative, interdisciplinary academic expertise and state‑of‑the‑art laboratory facilities to support IRF’s objectives.

“Corrosion control, mitigation, and monitoring are significant concerns in our industry,” said Simon Webster, BP’s vice‑president for the IRF flagship. “We recognized that the future success of the IRF program depends on reliable long‑term access to highly specialised materials and corrosion expertise and laboratory facilities. Our collaboration with MIT and Manchester will provide us with the world‑class research access we need.”

“This further investment by BP significantly advances our long‑standing relationship with the company across a wide range of engineering and management programs,” said Professor Colin Bailey, dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences at Manchester. “In addition, it recognises the importance of the research underway at the University and will support the consolidation of the University’s position as a world leader in corrosion control and materials research in extreme environments, which is relevant across the entire energy sector.”

For MIT, Professor Ron Ballinger noted that “The MIT/BP collaboration is an exciting opportunity to develop a fundamental understanding of the underlying mechanisms of environmental degradation and the application of this understanding to the development of advanced materials for use in extreme environments such as those found in the oil and gas industry.” Professor Ned Thomas added, “Advanced energy production systems are increasingly materials‑limited, so it is critical that our graduates are well versed in the role of extreme environments on materials behaviour and, in particular, the role of corrosion in real engineering systems.”

Steve Groves, BP’s IRF program manager, said that “BP is delighted to begin this collaboration with MIT and Manchester. By joining forces with like‑minded research and technology organisations, we can apply a ‘bigger brain’ to the challenging issues we face. This will have a real impact on BP’s bottom line, through our operational integrity and performance.”

A rigorous selection process identified MIT and Manchester as the most capable partners, based on their strong reputation and expertise in the relevant fields. This research programme forms part of BP’s global commitment to the two universities as leading academic research establishments.

As part of the long‑term relationship, BP will fund curriculum development at both universities to raise the profile of oil‑field materials and corrosion science in undergraduate and graduate education. BP will also provide a one‑off $500 000 commitment to the Corrosion and Reliability Engineering initiative at the University of Akron, supporting the launch of the first bachelor’s degree programme in corrosion engineering in the United States. These collaborations aim to nurture the next generation of materials and corrosion specialists and offer training opportunities for current BP staff.

Notes:

1. BP’s Inherently Reliable Facilities (IRF) flagship technology programme was created to ensure that the company’s exploration and production facilities are safe, reliable and efficient. The IRF team is helping BP improve and standardise its upstream capabilities in a wide range of areas, including corrosion control, materials selection and inspection. These are all crucial elements for successful operations. IRF’s high‑level goal is to deliver one billion incremental barrels of non‑proven reserves by extending the life of BP’s facilities and enhancing its ability to process aggressive fluids safely and efficiently. It also plays a crucial role in protecting BP’s privilege to operate worldwide, and in optimising the cost of building and operating E&P facilities and infrastructure. IRF is a dedicated team of 20 engineers based in Sunbury, United Kingdom, and Houston, who work closely with colleagues in the BP E&P segment to identify business needs, and then develop and deploy technology solutions.
2. At MIT, Professors Ron Ballinger (Nuclear Science and Engineering and director of the H.H. Uhlig Corrosion Laboratory) and Ned Thomas (Materials Science and Engineering and Head of the Department of MSE) are the co‑Principal Investigators leading the research and curriculum development efforts. The BP Centre will combine advanced modelling and simulation with state‑of‑the‑art experimental techniques. The MIT team includes Professors Chris Schuh and Michael Demkowicz of MSE and Bilge Yildiz and Sid Yip of NSE.
3. The University of Manchester is the UK’s largest single‑site university, with more than 35 400 undergraduate and postgraduate students and 5 800 academic and research staff across 22 academic schools and hundreds of specialist research groups. The University has an annual income of more than £680 million and had a total research expenditure of £375 million in 2006‑2007. The Corrosion and Protection Centre’s research, at the University of Manchester, is supported by more than 70 students and research workers and 11 academic staff, making it the largest academic‑based institute of its kind.
4. The University of Akron’s College of Engineering anticipates launching the first bachelor’s degree programme in corrosion engineering in the United States. Initial funding for the programme is provided by the U.S. Department of Defense, with student enrolment slated to begin next year. The gift from BP’s IRF flagship will be used to develop curriculum, deliver courses to undergraduate and graduate students, and advance workforce development, as it relates to the upstream oil and gas industry.
5. IRF is also working to develop deeper relationships with two commercial laboratories (NPL in Teddington, U.K., and Intertek Westport in Houston), based on test work related to chemical inhibition, corrosion monitoring and materials performance. It is envisaged that these two laboratories will input expertise and facilities into the university research, in line with their capabilities.