bp p.l.c.

Who owns bp?
bp is a publicly traded company listed on the London Stock Exchange and NYSE under ticker BP, owned by dispersed institutional and retail shareholders. No single entity controls it.

Who is the CEO of bp?
Meg O'Neill, former chief executive of Woodside Energy, became bp's CEO on April 1, 2026, following interim leadership by Carol Howle after Murray Auchincloss's December 2025 departure.

What does bp stand for?
The name descends from British Petroleum, the company's name through 2001, when it rebranded to lowercase "bp" following the Amoco, ARCO, and Burmah Castrol mergers.

Does bp own ampm?
Yes. bp owns ampm through its US convenience and mobility business, inherited from the 2000 ARCO acquisition. The brand operates more than 1,000 stores, mainly on the US West Coast, and is expanding nationally.

How much revenue does bp make?
Fiscal 2025 revenue was $189.3 billion with underlying replacement cost profit of $7.5 billion and operating cash flow of $24.5 billion.

William Knox D'Arcy founded the Anglo-Persian Oil Company in 1909 after securing a concession to explore for oil in Persia, striking commercial reserves at Masjed Soleyman in 1908. The company built the Abadan refinery and became a strategic British asset, with the UK government acquiring a controlling stake in 1914.

Renamed the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company in 1935, the firm lost its Iranian assets to nationalization in 1951 and rebuilt as British Petroleum, diversifying into Alaska, the North Sea, and chemicals. Full privatization came in stages through the 1980s.

The modern company formed through megamergers: British Petroleum acquired Amoco in 1998, ARCO in 2000, and Burmah Castrol in 2000, creating a top-three global oil company rebranded to lowercase "bp" in 2001. The acquisitions brought the ampm convenience store brand, Amoco's US retail presence, and the Castrol lubricants business.

The 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 workers and causing the largest marine oil spill in history, defined the company's subsequent decade, costing more than $65 billion in cleanup, fines, and settlements and forcing asset sales that reshaped the portfolio.

Through the 2020s, bp pivoted from Bernard Looney's 2020 net-zero growth strategy back toward core oil and gas under investor pressure, elevated spending on advantaged upstream projects such as the 2025 Bumerangue discovery offshore Brazil, and expanded its US convenience business through the 2021 acquisition of Thorntons and the 2023 purchase of TravelCenters of America.

The 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster remains the largest regulatory and reputational event in company history, with more than $65 billion in total costs and permanent changes to offshore safety regulation.

The company's climate record draws ongoing scrutiny: bp scaled back its 2030 oil production cuts and emissions targets between 2023 and 2025, prompting criticism from climate groups and some investors, while simultaneously defending its strategy as necessary for energy security. Elliott Management's 2025 activist campaign pressed the board on capital allocation and governance.