for other uses see bp disambiguation . bp plc type public limited company traded as lse bp . fwb bpe nyse bp industry oil and gas predecessors anglo persian oil company castrol standard oil of ohio arco amoco founded may 1908 ; 108 years ago 1908 05 as anglo persian oil company 1935 1935 as anglo iranian oil co. 1954 1954 as british petroleum 1998 1998 as bp amoco plc 2001 2001 as bp plc headquarters london england u.k. area served worldwide key people carl henric svanberg chairman bob dudley ceo brian gilvary cfo products petroleum natural gas motor fuels aviation fuels petrochemicals production output 3.3 mbbl d 520 10 3 m3 d of oil equivalent 1 2015 services service stations revenue us 225.98 billion 2 2015 operating income us 7.92 billion 2 2015 profit us 6.4 billion 2 2015 total assets us 261.8 billion 3 2015 total equity us 98.387 billion 3 2015 number of employees 79 800 1 as of 31 december 2015 subsidiaries amoco website bp.com bp plc 4 5 also referred to by its former name british petroleum is a british multinational oil and gas company headquartered in london england . it is one of the world s seven oil and gas supermajors 6 whose performance in 2012 made it the world s sixth largest oil and gas company the sixth largest energy company by market capitalization 7 and the company with the world s fifth largest revenue turnover . 8 9 it is a vertically integrated company operating in all areas of the oil and gas industry including exploration and production refining distribution and marketing petrochemicals power generation and trading . it also has renewable energy interests in biofuels and wind power . as of 31 december 2015 bp had operations in more than 70 countries produced around 3.3 million barrels per day 520 000 m3 d of oil equivalent and had total proved reserves of 17.18 billion barrels 2.731 109 m3 of oil equivalent . 1 the company has around 17 200 service stations worldwide . 10 its largest division is bp america in the united states . in russia bp owns a 19.75 % stake in rosneft the world s largest publicly traded oil and gas company by hydrocarbon reserves and production . bp has a primary listing on the london stock exchange and is a constituent of the ftse 100 index . it has secondary listings on the frankfurt stock exchange and the new york stock exchange . bp s origins date back to the founding of the anglo persian oil company in 1908 established as a subsidiary of burmah oil company to exploit oil discoveries in iran . in 1935 it became the anglo iranian oil company and in 1954 british petroleum . 11 12 in 1959 the company expanded beyond the middle east to alaska and in 1965 it was the first company to strike oil in the north sea . british petroleum acquired majority control of standard oil of ohio in 1978 . formerly majority state owned the british government privatised the company in stages between 1979 and 1987 . british petroleum merged with amoco in 1998 becoming bp amoco plc and acquired arco and burmah castrol in 2000 becoming bp plc in 2001 . from 2003 to 2013 bp was a partner in the tnk bp joint venture in russia . bp has been directly involved in several major environmental and safety incidents . among them were the 2005 texas city refinery explosion which caused the death of 15 workers and resulted in a record setting osha fine ; britain s largest oil spill the wreck of torrey canyon ; and the 2006 prudhoe bay oil spill the largest oil spill on alaska s north slope which resulted in a us 25 million civil penalty the largest per barrel penalty at that time for an oil spill . 13 the 2010 deepwater horizon oil spill the largest accidental release of oil into marine waters in history resulted in severe environmental health and economic consequences 14 and serious legal and public relations repercussions for bp . 1.8 million gallons of corexit oil dispersant were used in the cleanup response becoming the largest application of such chemicals in us history . 15 the company pleaded guilty to 11 counts of felony manslaughter two misdemeanors and one felony count of lying to congress and agreed to pay more than 4.5 billion in fines and penalties the largest criminal resolution in us history . 16 17 18 legal proceedings are continuing with proceedings set to commence in january 2015 19 to determine payouts and fines under the clean water act and the natural resources damage assessment . 20 21 22 23 in september 2014 the judge ruled in the first phase of the case that bp was reckless and committed gross negligence in a worst case ruling that could cost bp 18 billion in additional penalties above the 28 billion already expended on the spill by that time . bp is appealing the ruling which raised concerns about bp s future . they settled in july 2015 in the amount of 19 billion plus the original amount . 24 25 contents 1 history 1.1 1909 to 1954 1.2 1954 to 1979 1.3 1979 to 2000 1.4 2000 to 2010 1.5 2010 to present 2 operations 2.1 operations by location 2.1.1 united kingdom 2.1.2 united states 2.1.3 other locations 2.2 main business segments 2.2.1 oil and natural gas 2.2.2 oil refining and marketing 2.3 alternative and low carbon energy 3 corporate affairs 3.1 stock 3.2 branding and public relations 4 environmental record 4.1 position on global warming 4.2 hazardous substance dumping 1993 1995 4.3 air pollution violations 4.4 colombian farmland damages claim 4.5 canadian oil sands 5 health and safety violations 5.1 1965 sea gem offshore oil rig disaster 5.2 texas city refinery explosion and leaks 5.2.1 2005 explosion 5.2.2 2007 toxic substance release 5.2.3 2010 chemical leak 5.3 prudhoe bay 5.4 2008 caspian sea gas leak and blowout 6 deepwater horizon explosion and oil spill 6.1 environmental impact 6.2 effects on human health 6.3 criminal prosecutions 6.4 justice department suit 6.5 civil proceedings and claims settlement 7 political influence 7.1 release of lockerbie bomber 7.2 political contributions and lobbying 8 market manipulation investigations and sanctions 9 see also 10 references 11 bibliography 12 external links history edit 1909 to 1954 edit further information anglo iranian oil company and iraq petroleum company william knox d arcy a bp motor spirit advertisement from 1922 in may 1908 a group of british geologists discovered a large amount of oil at masjid i suleiman in iran . it was the first commercially significant find of oil in the middle east . the shah of iran granted a concession to william knox d arcy to enable the british to drill for iran s oil . 26 27 on 14 april 1909 the anglo persian oil company apoc was incorporated as a subsidiary of burmah oil company . some of the shares were sold to the public . 28 the first chairman and minority shareholder of the company became lord strathcona . 27 immediately after establishing the company construction of the abadan refinery and the pipeline from masjid to abadan started . the refinery was commissioned in 1912 . 27 in 1913 the british government acquired a controlling interest 50.0025 % in the company and at the suggestion of winston churchill the british navy switched from coal to oil . 27 29 30 the royal navy which projected british power all over the world came to be run 100 % on oil from iran . 31 in 1915 apoc established its shipping subsidiary the british tanker company and in 1916 it acquired the british petroleum company which was a marketing arm of the german europ ische petroleum union in britain . 27 in 1919 the company became a shale oil producer by establishing a subsidiary named scottish oils which merged remaining scottish oil shale industries . 32 33 34 35 after world war i apoc started marketing its products in continental europe and acquired stakes in the local marketing companies in several european countries . refineries were built in llandarcy in wales the first refinery in the united kingdom and grangemouth in scotland . it also acquired the controlling stake in the courchelettes refinery in france and formed with the government of australia a partnership named commonwealth oil refineries which built the australian s first refinery in laverton victoria . 27 in 1923 burmah employed winston churchill as a paid consultant to lobby the british government to allow apoc have exclusive rights to persian oil resources which were subsequently granted by the iranian monarchy . 36 apoc and the armenian businessman calouste gulbenkian were the driving forces behind the creation of turkish petroleum company tpc in 1912 to explore oil in mesopotamia now iraq ; and by 1914 apoc held 50 % of tpc shares . 37 in 1925 tpc received concession in the mesopotamian oil resources from the iraqi government under british mandate . tpc finally struck oil in iraq on 14 october 1927 . by 1928 the apoc s shareholding in tpc which by now was named iraq petroleum company ipc was reduced to 23.75 % ; as the result of the changing geopolitics post ottoman empire break up and the red line agreement . 38 relations were generally cordial between the pro west hashemite monarchy 1932 58 in iraq and ipc in spite of disputes centered on iraq s wish for greater involvement and more royalties . during the 1928 68 time period ipc monopolised oil exploration inside the red line ; excluding saudi arabia and bahrain . 39 40 in 1932 apoc and royal dutch shell formed the joint marketing company in the united kingdom named shell mex and bp . 30 in 1934 apoc and gulf oil founded the kuwait oil company as an equally owned partnership . the oil concession rights were awarded to the company on 23 december 1934 and the company started drilling operations in 1936 . 41 42 in 1935 rez sh h requested the international community to refer to persia as iran which was reflected in the name change of apoc to the anglo iranian oil company aioc . 26 in 1937 aioc and royal dutch shell formed the shell d arcy exploration partners partnership to explore for oil in nigeria . the partnership was equally owned but operated by shell . it was later replaced by shell d arcy petroleum development company and shell bp petroleum development company now shell petroleum development company . 43 following world war ii nationalistic sentiments were on the rise in the middle east ; most notable being iranian nationalism and arab nationalism . in iran the aioc and the pro western iranian government led by prime minister ali razmara resisted nationalist calls to revise aioc s concession terms in iran s favour . in march 1951 razmara was assassinated and mohammed mossadeq a nationalist was elected as the new prime minister by the majlis of iran parliament . 44 in april 1951 the iranian government nationalised the iranian oil industry by unanimous vote and the national iranian oil company nioc was formed displacing the aioc . 45 46 the aioc withdrew its management from iran and britain organized an effective worldwide embargo of iranian oil . the british government which owned the aioc contested the nationalisation at the international court of justice at the hague but its complaint was dismissed . 47 prime minister churchill asked president eisenhower for help in overthrowing mossadeq . the anti mossadeq plan was orchestrated under the code name operation ajax by cia and operation boot by sis mi6 . the cia and the british helped stage a coup in august 1953 the 1953 iranian coup d tat which established pro western general fazlollah zahedi as the new pm and greatly strengthened the political power of