BP Amoco and PricewaterhouseCoopers Sign Largest Canadian Contract for Finance and Accounting Business Process Outsourcing.

Business Editors

CALGARY, ALBERTA and NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 11, 2000

BP Amoco, one of the world's leading energy companies, and PricewaterhouseCoopers, the world's largest professional services organization, today announced a USD 200 million, ten-year agreement to expand their global business process outsourcing (BPO) relationship to include Canada, where BP Amoco is the largest producer of natural gas. The deal is believed to be the largest BPO contract for finance and accounting services in Canada and the first agreement of its kind in the Canadian energy industry. Business process outsourcing is defined as the long-term contracting of non-core business processes to an outside services provider.

Under the terms of the contract, BP Amoco will outsource to PricewaterhouseCoopers BPO Canada its Accounting Services and associated Information Technology Groups in Calgary. Approximately 300 BP Amoco employees based in Calgary will join PricewaterhouseCoopers to form a new service unit that will manage various business operations of BP Amoco and other companies, including finance, administration and information technology.

Joe Bryant, president, BP Amoco Canada, said, "The agreement is a mutual gain for everyone concerned and meets the expectations of our shareholders. It allows us to focus on what we do best - finding, developing, producing and marketing natural gas and its derivatives. It also ensures that our cost structure is as flexible as the commodity price cycle, so that we can continue to control costs and focus on growth. For employees joining PricewaterhouseCoopers, it provides an exciting career opportunity where they will become part of the core business of a global leader."

The landmark agreement follows the signing of a USD 1.1 billion contract between BP Amoco and PricewaterhouseCoopers for BPO services in the United States, announced in November 1999. The two organizations already benefit from a successful BPO relationship in Europe and South America. The deal also underscores the increasingly widespread use of business process outsourcing by corporations in North America and other parts of the world to focus on and invest in core businesses.

John Haslett, the PricewaterhouseCoopers partner in charge of the firm's new service unit in Calgary, said, "This deal provides us with a core group of highly skilled and experienced professionals who will be instrumental in helping us grow our BPO practice in Canada. Open for business as of January 1, 2000, our new Calgary facility has already caught the attention of other companies that view BPO as a key tool in achieving their strategic business goals."

In Calgary, the 300 BP Amoco employees will form the basis of a new PricewaterhouseCoopers' Centre of Excellence sm that will support BP Amoco's natural gas exploration and development, production and marketing along with their downstream natural gas liquids, crude oil trading and petrochemicals businesses. Located in key markets around the world, the Centres of Excellence provide world class BPO services to a diverse range of client organizations across all industries.

John Barnsley, global leader of the Business Process Outsourcing Group for PricewaterhouseCoopers, said, "Through business process outsourcing, BP Amoco is creating an organizational structure that is a model for other global leaders seeking to maximize operating efficiency and performance. The BPO model is designed to support and serve a long-term platform for growth, efficiency, technological innovation and other drivers of shareholder value. We believe that we are uniquely qualified for the task, with the ability to implement this model on a national as well as global scale."

Keith Ellis, vice president at International Data Corporation, the world's leading provider of information technology data and industry analysis, said, "The BP Amoco-PricewaterhouseCoopers deal signals a new era in the Canadian BPO market. It is the first BPO finance and accounting deal of significant size and scope, and it positions PricewaterhouseCoopers as the market leader for large Canadian organizations contemplating business process outsourcing. The deal also indicates that outsourcing in Canada is no longer just a systems or operations based proposition, but that critical business processes can be fully and credibly outsourced."

PricewaterhouseCoopers (www.pwcglobal.com) is the world's leading professional services organization. Drawing on the knowledge and skills of 150,000 people in 150 countries, we help our clients solve complex business problems and measurably enhance their ability to build value, manage risk and improve performance. PricewaterhouseCoopers refers to the U.S. firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and other members of the worldwide PricewaterhouseCoopers organization.

BP Amoco (www.bpamoco.com) is an international company involved in the exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas; refining, marketing, supply and transportation of hydrocarbons; and manufacturing and marketing of petrochemicals and solar power generation.

Note to Editors: The name PricewaterhouseCoopers is one word, with upper case P, upper case C, and all other letters in lower case.