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BP Transportation history
BP Transportation company history timeline
Just a few months after closing the Amoco deal, the company announced yet another major acquisition: Atlantic Richfield Co. (Arco). Arco, which was based in Los Angeles, had been in the oil business since 1866--longer than either British Petroleum or Amoco.
1892: The Standard Oil Trust is liquidated; Standard Oil (Indiana) becomes a subsidiary of Standard Oil Company (New Jersey).
• 1901: On May 28th, The grand vizier of Persia (now Iran) grants William Knox D’Arcy the privilege to develop, trade, and sell natural gas, petroleum, asphalt and ozokerite for 60 years throughout Persia, except for five northern provinces.
Eventually, after intercession by members of the British Admiralty, the Burmah Oil Company joined D'Arcy in a Concessionary Oil Syndicate in 1905 and supplied further funds in return for operational control.
1908: D'Arcy's company becomes the first to strike oil in the Middle East.
Our history is full of discoveries, starting in 1908 with oil found in a rugged part of Persia after a long and difficult search.
The company was founded by William Knox D’Arcy on April 14, 1909 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.“
1911: The government orders Standard Oil Company (New Jersey) to relinquish control of its subsidiaries; Standard Oil (Indiana) becomes an independent company.
For a time Anglo-Persian Oil risked being absorbed by one of the larger oil companies, such as the Royal Dutch/Shell Group, with whom it signed a ten-year marketing agreement in 1912.
1914: The British government acquires a controlling interest in the Anglo-Persian Oil Company.
1915: Anglo-Persian forms an oil tanker subsidiary.
In 1917 Greenway also decided to establish a refinery at Swansea, Wales, with improved refining technology that could produce petroleum products for British and European markets.
In 1917, in his biggest coup, Greenway acquired British Petroleum Company, the British marketing subsidiary of the European Petroleum Union.
To obtain a reliable source of crude oil, Stewart acquired 33 percent of Midwest Refining Company of Wyoming, in 1920.
Standard bought an interest in the Pan American Petroleum & Transport Company in 1925.
1925: Standard (Indiana) buys an interest in the Pan American Petroleum & Transport Company in the largest oil industry consolidation to date, giving Standard entry into oil fields in Mexico, Venezuela, and Iraq.
In 1928, he also joined forces with other leading oil companies in a clandestine price-fixing agreement among the world's largest oil companies.
1929: Standard (Indiana) and five other Standard companies organize the Atlas Supply Company to sell automobile tires and other accessories.
In 1929 Standard (Indiana) acquired another chunk of Pan American stock through a stock swap, bringing its total ownership of Pan American to 81 percent.
Equally profitable as a supplier, the company's net earnings for 1929 were $78.5 million after taxes.
Though expensive, these investments proved to be sound; by 1929, the Depression notwithstanding, Standard Oil (Indiana) was second only to Standard Oil (New Jersey) as a buyer of crude oil.
In 1929 Stewart was followed as CEO by Edward G. Seubert, who continued to strengthen Standard's crude oil supply.
With an eye to future supply security, Seubert shifted the emphasis to buying and developing crude oil-producing properties like McMan Oil and Gas Company, a 1930 purchase that provided 10,000 barrels daily.
Even worse conditions threatened after the largest oil field in history was found in east Texas in late 1930.
These subsidiaries now became the Stanolind Pipe Line Company and the Stanolind Crude Oil Purchasing Company; they were joined in 1931 by the Stanolind Oil & Gas Company, a newly organized subsidiary absorbing several smaller ones.
Standard (Indiana) did not engage in this practice, preferring instead to curtail exploration and drilling activities. As a result, only 49.9 billion barrels were produced in 1931, as against 55.1 billion the year before, and the company's 13 domestic facilities operated well below capacity.
1932: Standard (Indiana) sells Pan American's foreign interests.
Nevertheless, cheaper international exploration costs spurred Standard (Indiana) to again become active in the growing foreign oil arena that it had all but left in 1932 when it sold Pan American's foreign interests.
• 1932: BP and Shell merged their U.K. market operations to form Shell-Mex.
1933: Persia signs a new 60-year concession with Anglo-Persian Oil.
• 1934: Shell-Mex and BP acquire the Power Petroleum Company.
1935: Anglo-Persian is renamed Anglo-Iranian Oil when Persia becomes Iran.
Activities in Texas led the Stanolind Oil & Gas Company to the Hastings field, which held 43 producing wells by the end of 1935.
Standard felt the bite in Iowa's 1935 chain-store tax, which could not be justified by its service stations' profit margin.
He left behind him 33,244 employees, sales of crude oil topping the 1944 figure by 37.1 percent, and a gross income of $618.9 million.
On January 1, 1945, Seubert retired as president and chief executive officer of the company.
1945: Amoco Chemicals is formed.
1948: Standard (Indiana) forms a foreign exploration department to spearhead exploration efforts in Canada and other countries.
The new team spent more than $98 million by 1950, with Canada and the Gulf of Mexico its prime targets.
American Oil Pipe Line Company, a former subsidiary of American Oil, was merged into Service Pipe Line Company--which had been known as Stanolind Pipe Line Company until 1950--focused on oil transport.
1951: The Iranian oil industry is nationalized, ousting Anglo-Iranian Oil.
By 1951, gross income had reached $1.54 billion.
1952: Standard Oil (Indiana) is the nation's largest domestic oil company.
1954: Anglo-Iranian Oil is renamed the British Petroleum Company, returns to Iran.
In 1955 Peake retired as president, to be succeeded by former Executive Vice-President Frank Prior, who inherited the problem of a decrease in allowable production days in the state of Texas, as a result of additions to oil reserves in the state.
1957: Standard (Indiana) reorganizes, consolidating nine subsidiaries into four larger companies.
Total income for 1957 was about $2 billion.
American Oil thus had the right to use the Standard name only in the 15 midwestern states that had been the company's original territory. Thus, in 1957, the word "American," together with the Standard Oil (Indiana) logo, was used in all other states.
Standard (Indiana) broke openly with this custom in a 1958 deal with the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), in which Standard (Indiana) split the profits evenly, then gave NIOC half of its own share, to which it added a $25 million bonus.
• 1958: BP reaches agreement with Sinclair Oil Corporation to form two companies: 1.) selling BP’s Middle East crude in the United States through Sinclair’s downstream facilities; 2.) engaging in exploration primarily in Latin America.
In 1960 company President John Swearingen succeeded Prior as chief executive officer, the chairmanship being left vacant.
• 1960’s: BP’s oil exploration in Libya begins to pay huge dividends.
1961: Standard (Indiana) begins to use the brand name Amoco heavily in its advertising and subsidiary names.
In 1961 Standard's total income reached almost $2.1 billion, yielding net earnings of $153.9 million.
About 250 service stations also were opened in Australia in 1961, along with a 25,000-barrel-per-day refinery.
To keep pace with demand for the raw materials used in polyester fiber and film, the company built a new facility at Decatur, Alabama, in 1965, adding another in Texas City, Texas, a year later.
By the end of 1966 there were 5.5 million card holders, encouraging American Oil to go national with its motor club.
1967: British Petroleum becomes the second largest chemicals company in the United Kingdom.
In 1967 Standard began production in the Persian Gulf Cyrus field, by which time the huge El Morgan field in the Gulf of Suez was producing 45,000 barrels daily.
All of these advances ensured profitability; overall chemical sales rose to $158 million by the end of 1967, on total revenues of almost $3.6 billion.
• 1967: Paula Harris, a Senior Mathematician in BP’s Computer Department, becomes the first female employee admitted to its Senior Luncheon Club.
The trend had begun in 1968, when polypropylene manufacturer Avisun Corporation was purchased by Amoco Chemicals Corporation from Sun Oil Company.
• 1969: The first BP sign appears at a service station in Atlanta, Ga on April 29, 1969
1969: BP makes a major oil find at Prudhoe Bay in Alaska, partners with Standard Oil Company of Ohio (SOHIO) to develop the property.
1970: BP discovers the Forties field, the first major commercial oil find in British waters.
To capitalize on concern about air pollution, the company introduced a 91-octane lead-free gasoline in 1970 at a cost in excess of $100 million.
• 1970’s: In an effort to diversify, BP developed an extensive coal business, principally in the United States, Australia, and South Africa.
Despite these turbulent events, net income was $1.5 billion in 1971, on total revenues of $20.197 billion.
• 1977: BP and SOHIO complete the development of the Prudhoe Bay oil field with the construction of a 800-mile Trans-Alaska Pipeline.
1978: Standard Oil (Indiana)'s tanker Amoco Cadiz runs aground, dumping thousands of tons of oil off the French coast.
BP's chemical interests also expanded during this period, especially after 1978, when it acquired major European assets from Union Carbide and Monsanto.
CEO Sir Peter Walters, who took BP's helm in 1981, guided a five-year acquisitions binge costing approximately £10 billion.
In 1983 John Swearingen retired as chairman of the board.
1985: Standard Oil (Indiana) changes its name to Amoco Corporation.
By 1986 a 100-color line plus improved stain resistance made Amoco Fabrics & Fibers Company's petrochemical-based Genesis carpeting a serious competitor of the stain-resistant carpeting offered by du Pont.
One result of the sale was that by March 1988 the Kuwait Investment Office had built up a 21.6 percent stake in the company; government regulatory authorities subsequently reported that this share was reduced to less than 10 percent.
Other chances to expand oil and gas exploration in 1988 came with the acquisition of Tenneco Oil Company's Rocky Mountain properties, for approximately $900 million.
By 1990, the need for raw materials had expanded internationally, moving strongly toward Europe and the Far East.
H. Laurence Fuller took over as chairman in 1991 amidst a downturn in Amoco profits owing to weakening demand for petroleum products and reduced prices caused by the recession.
1992: Amoco becomes the first foreign oil company to explore the Chinese mainland.
Reorganization efforts also focused on the troubled American subsidiary, BP Oil, which contributed more than $20 million of the parent company's 1992 loss.
Fuller began this effort with a 1992 restructuring intended to reduce costs and improve efficiency.
1994: Amoco restructures, replacing its three major subsidiaries with a network of 17 business groups.
Also tested were shared service stations that offered Amoco gas and fast food (from McDonald's and Burger King), or such services as dry cleaning (DryClean United StatesA.). These tests were so successful that Amoco planned to roll out 100 such units in 1995 at a cost of $100 million.
In 1995, the company sold its motor club business to a subsidiary of Montgomery Ward and its credit card operations to Associates First Capital Corporation, a Ford subsidiary.
1997: Amoco begins a divestiture program designed to shed noncore properties.
In 1997, BP announced that it would build its first service stations in Japan.
• 1997: BP announced it was building its first service stations in Japan, while acquiring a 10 percent equity stake in AO Sidanco, a major Russian oil and gas company.
• 1998: In a $50 billion deal, British Petroleum acquires Amoco Corporation, the fifth largest oil company in the United States and largest producer of natural gas in North America, forming BP Amoco PLC, which was now 60 percent owned by BP shareholders and headed by BP’s CEO Sir John Browne.
• 2001: Madison Oil acquires BP’s ARCO Turkey Inc business for $3.4 billion
• 2003: BP sells a number of refineries, plants, and retail operations throughout the United States, Canada, Singapore, Central Europe and Germany.
• 2004: August, BP merged the automotive lubricant operations of Petrolub International Co Ltd and BP Japan, forming a new enterprise called BP Castrol KK, which held an estimated seven percent of the Japanese automotive lubricant market.
• 2005: BP sells its Innovene chemicals business to the Ineos Group (in the U.K.) for approximately $9 billion.
• 2006: BP deals with two oil spills in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, resulting from corroded pipelines and the spilling of 267,000 gallons of thick crude oil over two acres on the Tundra of Alaska’s North Slope.
• 2007: BP agrees to pay $373 million in restitution and fines to settle illegal propane trading allegations, including alleged environmental violations centering on the Alaskan pipeline leaks and Texas refinery explosion.
• 2007: BP’s annual profits fell 22 percent, reaching $17.3 billion.
• 2008: Falling profits, results in 5,000 job losses at BP, 60 percent of which were corporate positions.
• 2009: On April 14, BP celebrates its 100th anniversary.
• 2009: In early 2009, the State of Alaska, the United States Justice Department, and the United States Department of Transportation all filed civil lawsuits against BP’s exploration business relating to the oil spill in Prudhoe Bay.
• 2009: BP ends the year with 80,300 employees and $239 million in sales and operating revenues.
• 2010: June 15th, a government panel estimates that as much as 60,000 barrels a day could be gushing into the Gulf of Mexico, making it the largest offshore oil spill in United States history.
• 2010: Bloomberg Business Week estimates BP faces more than 225 lawsuits in 11 states; and additionally reports the combined cleanup, restoration and litigation costs of the spill could exceed $37 billion, according to a June 2 report by Credit Suisse
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