Anglo-Persian Oil Company

The Anglo-Persian Oil Company was a British oil company founded in 1909 to develop Iranian petroleum resources. Renamed the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company in 1935, it became part of BP.

William Knox D'Arcy: A British investor whose oil concession in Persia led to the discovery that founded the Anglo-Persian Oil Company. His concession and financing enabled the company’s first major oil discovery.
Oil industry: The system of finding, producing, refining, transporting, and selling petroleum. The company operated across several stages of this industry rather than only drilling.
Winston Churchill: British politician who, as First Lord of the Admiralty, promoted the government’s investment in the Anglo-Persian Oil Company. He argued for state-backed ownership to secure naval fuel supplies.
Iranian oil nationalization: Iran’s 1951 transfer of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company’s oil industry assets to state control. It ended the company’s direct control of Iranian production and triggered an international crisis.
National Iranian Oil Company: Iran’s state-owned oil company, established after nationalization of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company’s industry. It embodied Iran’s replacement of foreign company control with national ownership.
D'Arcy Concession: The 1901 agreement granting William Knox D'Arcy rights to explore for oil across much of Persia. This agreement supplied the legal basis for the company’s Iranian operations.
Petroleum refining: The industrial process of separating crude oil into useful fuels and other products. Refining at Abadan made the company’s Iranian crude commercially versatile.
George Reynolds: A British oil prospector who led the search that discovered commercial oil in Persia for D'Arcy’s venture. His exploration work produced the discovery on which the company was built.
Abadan Crisis: The 1951–1954 confrontation over Iran’s nationalization of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company’s oil facilities. The refinery’s closure and the dispute over its control defined the crisis.
Royal Dutch Shell: A multinational oil company formed from the 1907 merger of Royal Dutch Petroleum and Shell Transport and Trading. Its competing international operations show another model of a large European oil company.

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