BP Amoco expands links with University of Cambridge

Petroleum News Alaska Staff

BP Amoco has committed $40 million to fund a cross-disciplinary institute at the University of Cambridge. The BP Amoco Institute will research problems related to multiphase fluid flow, BP Amoco said in a June 28 statement.

Sir John Browne, group chief executive of BP Amoco, said the company plans to widen and deepen its relationship with the University of Cambridge in ways that are “mutually advantageous and give both the company and the university the chance to do things which otherwise would not be possible.”

Browne remarked that big companies need to learn — all the time and in all sorts of places.

“We believe Cambridge is one of the places where we can learn,” he said. “It is one of the few places in the world where it is possible to gather people who are at the leading edge of different disciplines, present them with a challenge and, by solving it, break through the current limits of knowledge.”

A joint venture across five university departments (Earth Sciences, Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Chemistry and Applied Mathematics), the BP Amoco Institute will be funded by a phased $40 million grant from the company. Over time, the venture is expected to extend to other fields of research, for which further funding would be available.

The purpose-built facilities in West Cambridge will be powered by solar panels manufactured by BP Solarex. They are expected to be ready by the late summer 2000.