BP Global is a world leader in petroleum exploration, production, refining and marketing. Headquartered in London, BP is the child of a merger between British Petroleum (BP) and U.S. oil company Amoco (short for American Oil Company). The corporate merger resulted in BP Global, which is Britain's largest company.

BP History

BP's rise to become one of the top three oil producers in the world is the result of more than a century's worth of mergers, buyouts and lucky finds. In 1889, Standard Oil was founded as a subsidiary of Standard Oil Trust. In 1911, Standard Oil Trust was dissolved by Congress' enforcement of Senator John Sherman's "Anti-Trust Act" of 1890. Standard Oil then became Standard Oil of Indiana, and over the next decade, the company purchased Pan American Petroleum. In 1914, Standard Oil of Indiana then licensed "thermal cracking," a refining process in which temperatures of around 800 degrees Celsius and pressures of 700kPa are used to breakdown, rearrange or combine hydrocarbon molecules found in crude oil and natural gas into more practical forms such as kerosene or gasoline. In 1925, Standard Oil of Indiana then acquired controlling interest in Pan American Petroleum and Transport Company, and, in 1954, Pan American and Standard of Indiana merged and the new company that was born was the American Oil Company or Amoco. 45 years later, in 1999, British Petroleum (BP) CEO John Browne then engineered a $57 billion agreement with Amoco, and the company became BP Amoco and the world's second-biggest publicly traded oil producer.

The merger, which cut 6,000 jobs, placed BP as the world's leading petroleum company. In 2006, BP controlled approximately 3% of the global share of oil and gas production and approximately 4% of the world's refining capacity in major global markets. In the same year, BP Global reported profits of $22.253 billion, employed 97,000 people, and had more than 1.2 million shareholders. Today, BP controls 17.7 billion barrels of oil and gas equivalent that is comprised of approximately 55% oil and 45% gas.

BP Operations

BP is broken down into three branches: Exploration and Production, Refining and Marketing, and Gas, Power and Renewables. The company's upstream sector involves active exploration in 26 countries and oil production in 22 countries. The company has access to 17 refineries, which allows the BP Amoco to refine 2.8 million barrels of crude oil per day.

Mission

BP's purpose is to "provide products that satisfy human needs, fuel progress and economic growth and to maintain and invest in a sustainable environment." This goal was moved along through the companies 24,600 stations worldwide, 12,300 of which are located in the United States. These stations allow the company to sell 5.8 million barrels of refined product each day.

Oil Industry Employment Resources >>>