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).
BP, p.l.c. chief executive Tony Hayward took a day off Saturday to see his 52-foot yacht "
Bob" compete in a glitzy race off
England'
s shore, a leisure trip that further infuriated residents of the oil-stained Gulf Coast.
{AP Newswire, 19 June 2010}