Sunoco has awarded IBM a deal that will see the manufacturer and marketer of petroleum and petrochemical products outsource its managed business process services and application support services.

Under the agreement IBM will help Sunoco drive improvements to a number of its back office processes by leveraging IBM's experience in the oil and gas industry, and deep business and applications process expertise, existing tools, and operational knowledge, thus enabling Sunoco to focus more of its resources on critical growth initiatives.

Similarly, as part of the agreement, IBM will provide services to Sunoco from its global operations centers, enabling Sunoco to better manage its Application Enhancement, Application Maintenance, Finance and Accounting, and Indirect Procurement processes.

It is not clear how large the contract is but last year Sunoco spent close to $90m, signing a $34m contract extension with India-based Wipro’s Infocrossing unit.

Sunoco also has contracts with AT&T Services and CompuCom. The company hired consulting firm EquaTerra earlier this year to identify other areas that might be ripe for outsourcing.