- Business
- BP p.l.c. is a British multinational oil and gas company that engages in the exploration and production of oil and natural gas; refining and marketing of petroleum and related products; production and trading of liquefied natural gas; operation of retail service stations; manufacturing and sale of lubricants including the Castrol brand; provision of aviation fuels; development of low-carbon energy solutions such as offshore wind, solar, hydrogen, biofuels, and carbon capture and storage; and trading of power and commodities. Headquartered in London, United Kingdom, and founded in 1909 as the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, BP operates in 61 countries with major activities in North America including its BP America division in Houston, the United Kingdom's North Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Angola, Iraq, Indonesia, and Brazil, producing around 2.4 million barrels of oil equivalent per day supported by approximately 21,200 service stations worldwide under the BP, Amoco, and Aral brands. The company organizes its business into segments including Gas & Low Carbon Energy covering natural gas production, integrated gas, renewables, hydrogen, and power trading; Oil Production & Operations focused on crude oil upstream activities and bpx energy; Customers & Products encompassing retail fuels, EV charging, Castrol, aviation, and business-to-business fuels; and Other Businesses & Corporate including ventures, innovation, and engineering. In recent developments, BP reset its strategy in February 2025 to grow upstream oil and gas production by increasing investments to $10 billion annually while reducing renewable funding by over £5 billion, announced plans to cut 4,700 staff and 3,000 contractors, acquired Bunge Bioenergia for $1.4 billion in June 2024 to boost ethanol output to 50,000 barrels per day, made a major oil and gas discovery in Brazil's Santos Basin in August 2025, advanced divestments including a strategic review of Castrol and sales of mobility businesses in Austria, Netherlands, and the Gelsenkirchen refinery, pulled out of the H2Teesside hydrogen project, and committed $7 billion with partners to a carbon capture and gas development in Indonesia's Tangguh field targeting production start in 2028.