BP is a British oil and gas company with worldwide headquarters in London, England.
The company has its origins in the 1909 founding of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, which was established as a subsidiary of Burmah Oil Company to exploit oil that was discovered in Iran.
The Anglo-Persian Oil Company’s name was changed in 1935 to Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, and then to British Petroleum in 1954.
It was owned by the British Government until 1979, when the company began to privatize in stages. The privatization was completed in 1987.
Today BP is one of the six oil and gas supermajors, and the sixth largest oil and gas company in the world.
BP operates in all parts of the oil and gas industry as a vertically integrated company, including exploration, production, refining, distribution, marketing, power generation, petrochemicals, and trading.
BP’s primary listing is on the London Stock Exchange but the company also trades in New York and Frankfurt.
