Founded in 1889 BP plc (formerly British Petroleum plc) are the third largest global energy company and the fifth largest company in the world. With headquarters in London, England, the multinational oil company is the largest corporation in the United Kingdom and falls among the largest private sector energy corporations in the world. BP plc employs over 90,000 people in 100 countries around the world; as of December 2008 the company had 22,600 service stations, active in 29 countries.
BP plc’s core service is to provide its customers with fuel for transportation, energy for heat and light, retail services and petrochemicals products for everyday items. A significant portion of BP plc’s operations takes place under the main brand BP; its other brands include ARCO, ampm, Castrol and ARAL.
The company operates in three segments:
Exploration and Production: the company engages in the oil and natural gas exploration, development, and production; and marketing and trading of natural gas liquids, liquefied natural gas (LNG), and gas and power. These activities are conducted in countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Angola, Canada, Egypt, the Russian Federation, and Trinidad and Tobago, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East. BP plc has interests in the Trans Alaska pipeline system, the Forties pipeline system, the Central Area transmission system pipeline, and Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, as well as in LNG plants located in Trinidad, Indonesia, and Australia.
Refining and Marketing: involves the supply and trading, refining, marketing, and transportation of crude oil, petroleum, and chemicals products to wholesale and retail customers under the Amoco and BP brands.
Businesses and Corporate: refers to the production and marketing of rolled aluminum products, as well as the generation of energy through wind, solar, biofuels, hydrogen, and gas-fired sources.
BP, and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), announced the signing of a technical service contract with Iraq’s state-owned South Oil Company (SOC) to expand production from the Rumaila oilfield, near Basra in southern Iraq. The signing follows BP’s successful bid for the contract with CNPC in Baghdad in June.
BP plc’s biofuels business has been voted ’2009 Biofuels Corporation of the Year’.