Energy major BP this week became the latest big-name player to reveal it is actively investigating the prospects for using blockchain to make its oil and gas trading more efficient.

It comes after a range of companies, including AP Moller-Maersk, Mercuria, Hyundai Merchant Marine, HSBC and Deutsche Bank, committed resources to study the outer limits of new digital technologies.

No one has yet claimed to have found a new and easy-to-implement solution to the inherent costs and risks of managing multimillion-dollar transactions between different entities worldwide.