BP

Energy and materials, used safely and efficiently, are essential to the prosperity and growth of the world. Sustaining and enhancing our quality of life ultimately depends on energy. Demand for energy continues to rise by 2-3% a year. BP's goal is to play a leading role in meeting these growing needs, and so aiding global development, without damaging the natural environment. We believe our involvement in the global economy is a positive and progressive one. Innovation is the hallmark of how we work with people, technology, assets and relationships. Our objective is always to be constructive and to use our expertise to produce creative solutions to every challenge. Our success depends on our making, and being seen to make, a distinctive contribution to every activity in which we are involved. The Standard Oil Trust is liquidated; Standard Oil (Indiana) becomes a subsidiary of Standard Oil Company (New Jersey). William Knox D'Arcy obtains a concession from Persia to explore for petroleum there. D'Arcy's company becomes the first to strike oil in the Middle East. The government orders Standard Oil Company (New Jersey) to relinquish control of its subsidiaries; Standard Oil (Indiana) becomes an independent company. The British government acquires a controlling interest in the Anglo-Persian Oil Company. Standard (Indiana) acquires 50 percent of the American Oil Company, which marketed an antiknock gasoline under the brand name "Amoco." 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. Standard (Indiana) and five other Standard companies organize the Atlas Supply Company to sell automobile tires and other accessories. Standard (Indiana) forms a foreign exploration department to spearhead exploration efforts in Canada and other countries. Standard (Indiana) begins to use the brand name Amoco heavily in its advertising and subsidiary names. British Petroleum becomes the second largest chemicals company in the United Kingdom. BP discovers the Forties field, the first major commercial oil find in British waters. Standard Oil (Indiana)'s tanker Amoco Cadiz runs aground, dumping thousands of tons of oil off the French coast. Amoco becomes the first foreign oil company to explore the Chinese mainland. Amoco restructures, replacing its three major subsidiaries with a network of 17 business groups.