BP is one of the world’s largest energy companies, with a history spanning over a century of oil exploration, geopolitical entanglement, and the most expensive industrial accident in history.
Educational content only — not personalized financial, legal, or tax advice.
BP (British Petroleum) is one of the world's largest integrated energy companies, with operations spanning oil and gas exploration, refining, petrochemicals, retail fuel, and increasingly renewable energy. Founded in 1908 as the Anglo-Persian Oil Company to exploit oil discoveries in what is now Iran, BP's century-plus history tracks the entire arc of the modern petroleum industry — from colonial concessions to postwar nationalization, from supermajor consolidation to the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe, and now toward an accelerating energy transition strategy that is among the most aggressive of any major oil company.
BP operates across the full energy value chain:
Upstream (Exploration & Production): BP produces approximately 2.3 million barrels of oil equivalent per day from fields in the Gulf of Mexico, the North Sea, Azerbaijan, Angola, Iraq, and elsewhere. The upstream segment generates the bulk of BP's cash flow and profits — oil and gas production economics are primarily driven by the spread between production costs and commodity prices, with BP's average upstream cost of supply approximately $35-40 per barrel.
Downstream (Refining & Retail): BP operates refineries in the U.S., UK, Germany, and Australia, and the Castrol lubricants brand. The downstream segment provides a hedge against upstream commodity exposure — refining margins rise when crude prices fall (cheaper inputs). BP's retail network includes approximately 18,000 branded service stations globally.
Integrated Gas: BP's LNG business, including interests in Australian and Trinidadian LNG projects, bridges oil and the transition to gas — which burns cleaner than oil and coal but still generates significant emissions.
The April 2010 Macondo blowout and Deepwater Horizon explosion — killing 11 workers and releasing approximately 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico over 87 days — was the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history and a near-existential crisis for BP. The company ultimately paid over $65 billion in fines, settlements, and cleanup costs — the largest corporate penalty in U.S. history at the time.
The disaster reshaped BP's corporate governance, safety culture, and financial position. BP sold approximately $40 billion in assets to fund payments, cutting its production base significantly. The reputational damage in the U.S. market was severe and persistent. The episode is taught in business schools as a case study in risk management failure, corporate governance breakdown, and crisis communication.
Under CEO Bernard Looney (2020-2023) and subsequently Murray Auchincloss, BP made the most aggressive energy transition commitment of any supermajor — pledging to reduce oil and gas production by 40% by 2030 (from 2019 levels) while massively expanding renewable energy investment. By 2022-2023, surging oil prices and investor pressure from the financial returns of upstream oil led BP to moderate these targets, extending timelines and maintaining more upstream investment than originally pledged.
BP's transition strategy reflects the fundamental dilemma facing all fossil fuel majors: oil and gas generate the cash flows that fund transition investments, but transition investments currently generate lower returns than the upstream business they're meant to replace. Balancing shareholder returns, transition commitments, and energy security in a volatile commodity price environment is the defining challenge of BP's current strategic era. See two ways to invest, sector investing explained, and energy subsidies explained.
Market capitalization: approximately $120 billion; trailing P/E: approximately 22x; latest reported first-quarter revenue: $51.8 billion; latest reported first-quarter EPS: $0.25. Energy-company revenue and earnings remain particularly sensitive to commodity prices. These figures reflect market data available on September 14, 2026.
This snapshot is informational, not investment advice. Market prices and valuation multiples change continuously; readers should check the company’s latest filing and current quote before making decisions.