BP plc,[5][6] also referred to by its former name, British Petroleum, is one of the world's seven "supermajor" oil and gas companies.[7] It is a British multinational company, headquartered in London, England, whose performance in 2012 made it the world's sixth-largest oil and gas company, the sixth-largest energy company by market capitalization[8] and the company with the world's fifth-largest revenue (turnover).[9][10] It is a vertically integrated company operating in all areas of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading. It also has renewable energy interests in biofuels and wind power.

[dated info] As of December 2013, BP has operations in approximately 80 countries,[4] produces around 3.2 million barrels per day (510,000 m3/d) of oil equivalent,[1] has total proved reserves of 17.9 billion barrels (2.85×109 m3) of oil equivalent,[11] and has around 17,800 service stations.[12][13] Its largest division is BP America in the United States. In Russia BP owns a 19.75% stake in Rosneft, the world's largest publicly traded oil and gas company by hydrocarbon reserves and production. BP has a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index; it had a market capitalisation of £85.2 billion as of April 2013, the fourth-largest of any company listed on the exchange.[14] It has secondary listings on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange.

BP's origins date back to the founding of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company in 1908, established as a subsidiary of Burmah Oil Company to exploit oil discoveries in Iran. In 1935, it became the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company and in 1954 British Petroleum.[15][16] In 1959, the company expanded beyond the Middle East to Alaska and in 1965 it was the first company to strike oil in