BP

Type	Public (NYSE: BP)
Founded	1908 (as the Anglo-Persian Oil Company) 1954 (as The British Petroleum Company)
Location	London, United Kingdom
Key people	William Knox D'Arcy (funded initial exploration) Donald Alexander Smith (founding chairman) John Browne (current CEO)
Industry	Oil and gas
Products	BP petroleum and derived products BP service stations Castrol motor oil ARCO gas stations am/pm convenience stores Aral service stations
Revenue	$285 billion USD (2004)
Website	www.bp.com

BP (formerly "British Petroleum" and briefly known as "BP Amoco") (NYSE: BP) is a petroleum company headquartered in London, and one of the top four oil companies in the world (along with Shell, ExxonMobil, and Total). The BP helios logo. ... Literally a public company is a company owned by the public. ... New York Stock Exchange (June 2003) The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is one of the largest stock exchanges in the world. ... 1908 is a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Following the discovery of a large oil field in Masjet Soleiman, in Iran, the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC) was founded in 1909. ... 1954 was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... St Stevens Tower - The Clock Tower of the Palace of Westminster which contains Big Ben London (see also different names) is the capital city of the United Kingdom and of England. ... The entrepreneur William Knox DArcy (October 11, 1849 - May 1, 1917) was one of the main founders of the oil and petrochemical industry in Persia (Iran). ... Donald Alexander Smith The Right Honourable Donald Alexander Smith, PC (August 6, 1820 – January 21, 1914) was a Scottish born Canadian fur trader, financier, railroad baron and politician. ... John Browne, Esq, Baron Browne of Madingley (b. ... Castrol motor oil - is a trademark automobile lubricant made by the Castrol company, which is now part of the BP Group of companies. ... An ARCO gas station in Los Angeles ARCO (formerly Atlantic Richfield Company), officially BP West Coast Products LLC, is an American oil company that is a subsidiary of BP. The Atlantic brand was spun off for ARCOs East Coast stations, and was acquired by Sunoco. ... The title given to this article is incorrect due to technical limitations. ... In business, revenue is the amount of money that a company actually receives from its activities, mostly from sales of products and/or services to customers. ... Green up arrow for a positive change in revenue from last fiscal year. ... The United States dollar, or American dollar, is the official currency of the United States. ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The front page of the English Wikipedia website. ... New York Stock Exchange (June 2003) The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is the second largest stock exchange in the world. ... Nodding donkey pumping an oil well near Sarnia, Ontario, 2001 Petroleum (from Latin petra – rock and oleum – oil), crude oil, sometimes colloquially called black gold, is a thick, dark brown or greenish flammable liquid, which exists in the upper strata of some areas of the Earths crust. ... St Stevens Tower - The Clock Tower of the Palace of Westminster which contains Big Ben London (see also different names) is the capital city of the United Kingdom and of England. ... A Shell petrol station sign in the UK A Shell gas station in the U.S. A Shell gas station in Poland The Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Companies (called Shell Oil Company in the United States) is a major energy company, one of the top four oil/gas companies... Exxon-branded gas station in California (actually operated by Valero) Greenpeace protest against Exxon Mobil Exxon Mobil Corporation or ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM), headquartered in Irving, Texas, is an oil producer and distributor formed on November 30, 1999, by the merger of Exxon and Mobil. ... Total new logo Total SA (NYSE: TOT) is a French oil company, and one of the top four oil companies in the world (along with Shell, BP, and ExxonMobil). ...

In December 1998, BP merged with the American oil company Amoco, forming "BP Amoco". However, this move was widely viewed as a purchase of Amoco by BP, only officially described as a merger for legal reasons. Indeed, after a single year of joint operations, the two giants merged most operations and "Amoco" was dropped from the name. The newly-renamed "BP" became an initialism no longer standing for "British Petroleum", and used the tagline "Beyond Petroleum." Its BP Solar division has become a world-leading producer of solar panels. 1998 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... Amoco was a United States oil company formed from the dissolution of Standard Oil. ... Acronyms and initialisms are abbreviations formed from the initial letter or letters of words, such as NATO and XHTML, and are pronounced in a way that is distinct from the full pronunciation of what the letters stand for. ... Solar Panel made by BP Solar The solar panels (photovoltaic arrays) on this small yacht at sea can charge the 12 V batteries at up to 9 Amps in full, direct sunlight. ...

BP is the leading partner in the controversial Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline. The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline (sometimes abbreviated as BTC pipeline) transports crude oil 1,760 km (1,093 miles) from the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli oil field in the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. ...

History

1909 - 1955

In May 1901, William Knox D'Arcy was granted a concession by the Shah of Persia to search for oil, which he found in May 1908. This was the first commercially significant find in the Middle East. In 1909, the Anglo-Persian Oil Company was created to exploit this find. The company grew slowly until World War I when its strategic importance led the British Government to acquire a controlling interest in the company and it became the Royal Navy's chief source of fuel oil during World War I. 1901 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... The entrepreneur William Knox DArcy (October 11, 1849 - May 1, 1917) was one of the main founders of the oil and petrochemical industry in Persia (Iran). ... Shah (in Persian: شاه), from the Old Persian word khshathra-pava king, popularly referred to as satrap by the Greeks, is the Persian term for a monarch and used by the former rulers of Persia as well as the rulers of the Persian Empire. ... Iran (Persia) (Persian: ایران) is a Middle Eastern country located in Southwest Asia. ... 1908 is a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... A map showing countries commonly considered to be part of the Middle East The Middle East is a region comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. ... 1909 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Following the discovery of a large oil field in Masjet Soleiman, in Iran, the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC) was founded in 1909. ... WWI redirects here. ...

In 1917, the war allowed it to take the British arm of the German Europaische Union, which used the trade name British Petroleum. After the war ended the company, in which the British Government now had a 51% interest, moved to secure outlets in Europe and elsewhere. but its main concern was still Persia, following the Anglo-Persian Agreement of 1919 the company continued to trade profitably in that country. 1917 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ...

There was growing dissent within Persia however at the imperialist and unfair position that APOC occupied. In 1932, the Shah terminated the APOC concession. The concession was resettled within a year, covering a reduced area with an increase in the Persian government's share of profits. Persia was renamed Iran in 1936 and APOC became AIOC, the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. 1932 is a leap year starting on a Friday. ... 1936 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Following the turmoil of World War II, AIOC and the Iranian government resisted nationalist pressure to come to a renewed deal in 1949. In March 1951, the pro-western Prime Minister Ali Razmara was assassinated and in April, a bill was passed nationalising the oil industry and the AIOC and the Shah were forced to leave the country. Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km (over 11 miles) into the air, August 9, 1945 after the Allied atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. ... 1949 is a common year starting on Saturday. ... 1951 was a common year starting on Monday; see its calendar. ...

The AIOC took its case against the nationalisation to the International Court of Justice at The Hague, but lost the case. However the governments of Britain and the US were concerned about the encroachment of Soviet influence in the area and assissted in a plot against the Iranian administration. They installed pro-Western General Fazlollah Zahedi as prime minister of Iran. The International Court of Justice (known colloquially as the World Court or ICJ) is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. ... Arms of The Hague The Hague (with capital T; Dutch: Den Haag, or officially s-Gravenhage) is the administrative capital of the Netherlands, located in the west of the country, in the province South Holland of which it is also the capital. ... Muhammad Fazlollah Zahedi (1897-1963) was an Iranian general and politician. ...

On August 19, 1953, the incumbent Prime Minister, Mohammed Mossadeq, was forced from office and replaced by Zahedi and the Shah was recalled. The AIOC became The British Petroleum Company in 1954, and briefly resumed operations in Iran with a forty percent share in an new international consortium. BP continued to operate in Iran until the Islamic Revolution. However, due to a large investment program outside Iran, the company survived the loss of its Iranian interests at that time. August 19 is the 231st day of the year (232nd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1953 is a common year starting on Thursday. ... Mohammed Mossadegh (Persian: محمد مصدق‎) (May 19, 1882 - March 4, 1967) was prime minister of Iran from 1951 to 1953. ... 1954 was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Golden Rhyton from Irans Achaemenid period. ...

1960s and 1970s

The BP logo used from 1989 to 2002.

From the late 1960s the company looked beyond the Middle East to the USA (Prudhoe Bay, Alaska) and the North Sea. Both of these fields came on stream in the mid-1970s transforming the company and allowing BP to weather the OPEC-induced oil price shocks of 1973 and 1979. In 1969, BP acquired the Valdez oil terminal, Alaska, from the Chugach for $1. Some natives contend that this was an illegal transfer. This is a copyrighted and/or trademarked logo. ... 1989 is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2002 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Prudhoe Bay is a census-designated place located in North Slope Borough, Alaska. ... State nickname: The Last Frontier, The Land of the Midnight Sun Other U.S. States Capital Juneau Largest city Anchorage Governor Frank Murkowski (R) Official languages English Area 1,717,854 km² (1st)  - Land 1,481,347 km²  - Water 236,507 km² (13. ... The North Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, located between the coasts of Norway and Denmark in the east, the coast of the British Isles in the west, and the German, Dutch, Belgian and French coasts in the south. ... The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is made up of Algeria, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela; since 1965, its international headquarters have been in Vienna, Austria. ... 1973 was a common year starting on Monday. ... 1979 is a common year starting on Monday. ... 1969 was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1969 calendar). ... The Valdez Oil Terminal is an oil port in Valdez, Alaska, at the southern end of the Alaska Pipeline. ... State nickname: The Last Frontier, The Land of the Midnight Sun Other U.S. States Capital Juneau Largest city Anchorage Governor Frank Murkowski (R) Official languages English Area 1,717,854 km² (1st)  - Land 1,481,347 km²  - Water 236,507 km² (13. ... Chugach (pronounced CHOO-gatch) is the name of a native Alaskan culture and group of people in the region of the Kenai Peninsula and Prince William Sound. ... The United States dollar, or American dollar, is the official currency of the United States. ...

In the mid-1970s, BP acquired Standard Oil of Ohio or Sohio. Standard Oil of Ohio or Sohio was an American oil company that was acquired by British Petroleum, now part of BP. It was one of the successor companies to Standard Oil after the antitrust breakup in 1911. ...

1980s and 1990s

BP filling station

P.I. Walters (later Sir Peter Walters) was BP's chairman from 1981 to 1990. Walters promoted a movement to deintegrate company operations based solely upon economic considerations: "For me, there is no strategy that is divorced from profitability," he once remarked. Under his chairmanship British Petroleum led the oil industry away from an era dominated by vertical integration and the supply planning this required toward a corporate culture that emphasized trading and decentralisation (Daniel Yergin, The Prize [Simon & Schuster, 1991], pp. 722-23). Download high resolution version (1778x1181, 293 KB)Taken from http://www. ... Download high resolution version (1778x1181, 293 KB)Taken from http://www. ... 1981 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1990 is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Profit is defined as the residual value gained from business operations. ... The Oil industry brings to market what is currently considered the lifeblood of nearly all other industry, if not industrialized civilization itself. ... In microeconomics and strategic management, the term vertical integration describes a style of ownership and control. ... Organizational Culture refers to the values, beliefs and customs of an organization. ... Daniel Yergin is an American author and economic researcher. ... The Prize (1991; ISBN 0671502484) is Daniel Yergins 800-page history of the global oil industry from the 1850s through 1990. ...

In 1987, British Petroleum acquired Britoil and those shares of Standard Oil of Ohio (Sohio) not already owned. In 1994, BP and Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) began marketing Orimulsion®, a bitumen-based fuel. John Browne, Lord Browne of Madingley, who had been on the board as managing director since 1991, was appointed group chief executive in 1995. 1987 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Standard Oil of Ohio or Sohio was an American oil company that was acquired by British Petroleum, now part of BP. It was one of the successor companies to Standard Oil after the antitrust breakup in 1911. ... 1994 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International year of the Family. ... Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PdVSA) is the Venezuelan nationally owned petroleum company. ... Orimulsion® is a registered trademark name for a bitumen-based fuel that was developed for industrial use by Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA, following earlier collaboration on oil emulsions withBritish Petroleum (BP). ... Bitumen Bitumen is a category of organic liquids which are highly viscous, black, sticky and wholly soluble in carbon disulfide. ... John Browne (Lord Browne of Madingley) (b. ... 1991 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1995 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Present

Chief Scientist of BP, Steven Koonin (top right, with computer), speaks about the energy scene in the boardroom in 2005.

British Petroleum merged with Amoco (Formerly Standard Oil of Indiana), in December 1998, becoming BPAmoco until 2002, when it was renamed BP, with no meaning given to the letters. Most Amoco gas stations in the United States are in the process of changing the look and name to BP. However in some states, BP is selling Amoco-branded gasoline (while the name of the station itself is BP). In 2000, British Petroleum also acquired Arco (Atlantic Richfield Co.) and Burmah Castrol plc. Download high resolution version (1760x1168, 439 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Download high resolution version (1760x1168, 439 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Amoco was a United States oil company formed from the dissolution of Standard Oil. ... 1998 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... 2002 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Modern gas station A filling station, gas station or petrol station is a facility that sells fuel for road motor vehicles – usually petrol (US: gas/gasoline), diesel fuel and LPG. The term gas station is mostly particular to the United States of America and Canada, where petrol is known as... An ARCO gas station in Los Angeles ARCO (formerly Atlantic Richfield Company), officially BP West Coast Products LLC, is an American oil company that is a subsidiary of BP. The Atlantic brand was spun off for ARCOs East Coast stations, and was acquired by Sunoco. ...

On March 23, 2005, an explosion occurred at a petroleum refinery in Texas City, Texas, that belonged to BP. It is the third largest refinery in the United States and one of the largest in the world, processing 433,000 barrels of crude oil per day and accounting for 3% of that nation's gasoline supply. Over 100 were injured, and 15 were confirmed dead, including employees of the Fluor Corporation as well as BP. BP has since accepted that its employees contributed to the accident by leaving octane for petrol unit unsupervised. The pressure in the units then reached unsustainable levels lending to the explosion. [1] March 23 is the 82nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (83rd in Leap years). ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar and is the current year. ... Texas City is a city located in Galveston County, Texas. ... State nickname: Lone Star State Other U.S. States Capital Austin Largest city Houston Governor Rick Perry Official languages None. ...

BP America, the United States arm of BP, was named one of the 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers in 2004 by Working Mothers magazine.

Image

Solar panel made by BP Solar

In 2002 the company was renamed BP, with no meaning given to the letters. Its new slogan, "Beyond Petroleum", was accompanied by the rebranding of its famous "Green Shield" logo in favor of the helios symbol (a green and yellow sunburst) to emphasize the company's focus on environmentally friendly fuels and alternative energy. This is intended to move BP away from the negative environmental image of most oil companies. solar panel by BP solar at a german autobahn bridge. ... solar panel by BP solar at a german autobahn bridge. ... Solar Panel made by BP Solar The solar panels (photovoltaic arrays) on this small yacht at sea can charge the 12 V batteries at up to 9 Amps in full, direct sunlight. ... Rebranding is the process by which a finished or near-finished product or service developed with one brand or company or product line affiliation is marketed or distributed with a different identity. ... This article is about Greek mythology. ... Future energy development face great challenges due to an increasing world population, demands for higher standards of living, demands for less pollution and a much discussed end to fossil fuels. ...

BP is a leading producer of solar panels since its purchase of Lucas Energy Systems in 1980 and Solarex (as part of its acquisition of Amoco) in 2000. BP Solar had a 20% world market share in photovoltaic panels in 2004 when it had a capacity to produce 90 MW/year of panels. It has over 30 years experience operating in over 160 countries with manufacturing facilities in the U.S., Spain, India and Australia and has more than 2000 employees worldwide. Solar Panel made by BP Solar The solar panels (photovoltaic arrays) on this small yacht at sea can charge the 12 V batteries at up to 9 Amps in full, direct sunlight. ... For other uses, see United States (disambiguation) and US (disambiguation). ...

In March 2002 BP's chief executive, Lord Browne, declared in a speech that global warming was real and that urgent action was needed, saying that "Companies composed of highly skilled and trained people can't live in denial of mounting evidence gathered by hundreds of the most reputable scientists in the world.".[2] In 2005 BP was considering testing carbon sequestration in one of its North Sea oil fields, by pumping carbon dioxide into them (and thereby also increasing yields).[3] Chief Executive may refer to: Chief Executive of Hong Kong Chief Executive of Macau Chief Executive Officer This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Edmund John Philip Browne, Baron Browne of Madingley (b. ... Global mean surface temperatures 1856-2004 Mean temperature anomalies during the period 1995 to 2004 with respect to the average temperatures from 1940 to 1980 Global warming is a term used to describe an increase over time of the average temperature of Earths atmosphere and oceans. ... A carbon dioxide sink or CO2 sink is the opposite of a carbon source. ... The North Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, located between the coasts of Norway and Denmark in the east, the coast of the British Isles in the west, and the German, Dutch, Belgian and French coasts in the south. ... Carbon dioxide is an atmospheric gas composed of one carbon and two oxygen atoms. ...

In 2004, BP began marketing low-sulphur diesel fuel for industrial use. BP is committed to creating a network of hydrogen fuelling station in the state of California. For the chemical element see: sulfur. ... Diesel fuel is a specific distillate fraction of fuel oil that is used in a diesel engine invented by German engineer Rudolf Diesel, and perfected by Charles F. Kettering. ... General Name, Symbol, Number hydrogen, H, 1 Chemical series nonmetals Group, Period, Block 1, 1, s Appearance colorless Atomic mass 1. ... State nickname: The Golden State Other U.S. States Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) Official languages English Area 410,000 km² (3rd)  - Land 404,298 km²  - Water 20,047 km² (4. ...

However, BP's image has been tarnished somewhat by its involvement with the controversial Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, criticised for human rights abuses, environmental and safety concerns. The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline (sometimes abbreviated as BTC pipeline) transports crude oil 1,760 km (1,093 miles) from the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli oil field in the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. ... A human rights abuse is abuse of people in a way that violates any fundamental human rights. ...

External links

• BP Company Website
• BP's Corporate History
• Arco Brand Website
• BP Solar