BP

Name: BP
Address: 1 St James’s Square, London, SW1Y 4PD, United Kingdom
Phone: 44 20 7496 4000

BP, a global energy company headquartered in London, is the United Kingdom’s largest corporation. The company operates through two segments: Exploration and Production, and Refining and Marketing. The Exploration and Production segment finds, develops, produces and transports oil and gas to market. The Refining and Marketing segment of BP engages in the supply and trading, refining, marketing, and transportation of crude oil, petroleum, and petrochemicals products and related services to wholesale and retail customers under the Aral, Amoco, ARCO, BP, and Castrol brands.

During 2009, BP was the leading operator in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. The company was the biggest producer, the leading resource holder, and held the largest exploration acreage position. BP experienced strong production growth in the Gulf of Mexico during 2009, including excellent performance from Thunder Horse, the largest single producing field in the Gulf of Mexico. BP also drilled the deepest oil and gas discovery well ever drilled to make the Tiber discovery in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. BP competes with other major petroleum producers, including Chevron, Total, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, and Shell.

BP is listed on the London Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “BP”. The April 2010 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon, in which 11 people died, was a severe blow to BP’s reputation and stock price. The resulting oil spill contaminated a vast area of United States marine environment along the Gulf of Mexico, with a serious impact on wildlife, the local fishing industry, and regional tourism. The offshore drilling rig Deepwater Horizon was owned and operated by Transocean Ltd on behalf of BP, which is the majority owner of the Macondo oil field where the accident occurred. Anadarko Petroleum, Halliburton and M-I Swaco also had employees working on the drilling rig at the time the explosion occurred. The U.S. Government has named BP the responsible party, and officials are holding BP accountable for all cleanup costs and other damage according to CNN. BP has allocated $100 million to pay for the missed wages of workers idled by the drilling ban. That money is separate from a $20 billion fund BP has created to cover economic damages caused by the spill.

The U.S. has defended the need for suspending deepwater drilling so that officials have time to investigate the cause of the BP disaster, issue new safety regulations and improve oversight. Amid the uncertainty surrounding drilling in U.S. waters, some companies have begun moving their drilling rigs and employees elsewhere, adding to the economic troubles of U.S. Gulf Coast states caused by both the oil spill and the drilling ban.

View Larger Map