Former name of BP, p.
l.c. The name "
British Petroleum" remains in use because "BP" is useless for
internet searches. Third largest oil company in the world, by sales (behind Exxon Mobile and Royal Dutch Shell; in 2009, these were $246.1 billion.
BP is the largest oil and gas producer in the US.
Lessor of Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico. On 20 April 2010, a
fire and explosion on the Deepwater Horizon killed eleven
crew members and was followed by a blowout, during which perhaps four million barrels of crude oil were poured into the ecologically sensitive area.
Company was founded in 1909 by
William Knox D'Arcy as the Anglo-
Persian Oil Company (APOC), and used its ties with the hapless Qejar Dynasty ruling Iran.
In 1925, Reza Khan (formerly an employee of APOC) had himself proclaimed Shah; his ascendancy from commoner to emperor was stimulated by Iran
popular anger at the way APOC was pumping billions of pounds from Iran's land to the Exchequer of the
UK, while a ridiculously small amount went to Iran itself. Shah Reza promised to revise the agreement with APOC, but after 7 years of negotiating with the company, got nothing more than a name
change (to Anglo-Iranian).
In 1951, Prime Minister Muhammad Mussadegh nationalize the company's assets in Iran. On behalf of AIOC, MI-5 and the CIA staged a coup d'etat that ousted the democratically elected Prime Minister in favor of absolute dictatorship by the Shah (1953).
Until 1997,
British Petroleum was part of an industry-wide consortium that funded climate
change "skepticism."
Although it is financially and legally unrelated to the British
government, BP has historically been treated by the British FCO as if it were an arm of the state.
