Britoil

Britoil plc

Formerly| British National Oil Corporation (BNOC)
Company type| PLC
Industry| Petroleum
Founded| 1975
Defunct| 1988; 37 years ago (1988)
Fate| Acquired by BP in 1988 [1]
Headquarters| Glasgow, Scotland, U.K.

Key people

* Sir Philip Shelbourne
(Former Chairman)
* David Walker
(Former CEO)

Products| Crude oil, Natural gas

Britoil plc was originally a privatised British oil company operating in the North Sea. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. The company was acquired by BP in 1988, becoming a brand of it.[1]

## History

[edit]

The company was originally formed in 1975 as the British National Oil Corporation (BNOC), a nationalised body, under the provisions of the Petroleum & Submarine Pipe-lines Act 1975.[2] Its objective was to maintain adequate oil supply levels.[3]

Britoil's interest in UK oil and gas fields in 1982 was as follows.[4]

Britoil interest in UK oil and gas fields in 1982  Field  | Britoil interest per cent

|

Thistle  | 18.93
Dunlin  | 9.77
Ninian  | 20.73
Statfjord  | 5.30
Murchison  | 27.92
Beatrice  | 28.00
South Brae  | 30.00
Hutton  | 20.00
Clyde  | 51.00
Viking (gas)  | 50.00
Andrew  | 100.00

As a result of the Oil and Gas (Enterprise) Act 1982, BNOC was split to enable the trading sector of the company BNOC to remain nationalised whilst the oil exploration and production sector, Britoil, was a limited liability company.[5]

In November 1982, 51% of Governmental shares in Britoil were sold off, however was substantially under-subscribed. The resultant losses were carried by underwriters. The remaining Government minority shareholding in Britoil was sold in November 1985 for £434 million, ensuring it kept a 'Golden Share' in order to veto any outsourcing attempts.[5] The collapse in world oil prices globally, combined with the possession of Britoil's majority share by BP meant that the golden share was sold to British Petroleum [6] in 1988.[7]

Britoil's Production entitlement and financial summary was as follows:[4][8]

Year  | Production entitlement  | Turnover, £ million  | Profit (loss) before tax, £ million  | Profit (loss) after tax, £ million

|
|
|
|

Oil, 1000 bbl/d  | Gas, million cubic feet/day
1977  | –  | 311  | 28  | (43)  | (31)
1978  | 10  | 257  | 54  | (35)  | (26)
1979  | 64  | 215  | 267  | 69  | 33
1980  | 85  | 229  | 506  | 256  | 67
1981  | 117  | 164  | 832  | 435  | 73
1982  |  |  | 1088  | 660  | 103
1983  |  |  | 1252  | 586  | 143
1984  |  |  | 1549  | 688  | 169
1985 (6 months)  |  |  | 968  | 365  | 91

In the same year, the company had been subject of an attempted £23 million fraud by one of its own cashiers.[9]

### Key people

[edit]

Chairman and Chief Executive: Baron Kearton (Christopher Frank Kearton) (1975–79), Ronald Utiger (1979–1980), Sir Philip Shelbourne (July 1980 – 1988),[10] Sir Robin Duthie (1988–90).

After the splitting off of Britoil Lord Croham,[10] the deputy chairman of BNOC, became chairman of BNOC's trading activities (1982–85).

## See also

[edit]

* List of oil exploration and production companies

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b Britain Drops a Barrier To B.P. Bid for Britoil on The New York Times, 5 Feb 1988
2. ^ World National Oil Company Statutes
3. ^ BNOC fades out
4. ^ a b "Britoil plc offer for sale". The Times. 12 November 1982.
5. ^ a b "House of Commons Privatisation Research Paper" (PDF). 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 December 2019.
6. ^ Parker, David (1997). The Impact of Privatisation: Ownership and Corporate Performance in the UK. Psychology Press. ISBN 0415142334.
7. ^ British Government to Yield Its 'Golden Share' of Britoil
8. ^ "Britoil plc offer for sale". The Times. 1 August 1985.
9. ^ "Cashier admits £23m fraud bid at Britoil". Herald Scotland. 31 August 1989. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
10. ^ a b "Britoil chairman named". The Times. 29 June 1982. p. 15.

## External links

[edit]

* Worksmart info on Britoil plc
* Catalogue of Clive Jenkins' papers re Britoil, held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick

* v
* t
* e

Divisions|

* Air BP
* Lightsource BP
* Prudhoe Bay Trust
* Rosneft (19.75%)
* BP Shipping

Subsidiaries|

* Aral
* BP Pulse
* Castrol
* Castrol India
* Jio-bp
* TravelCenters of America

Brands|

* Ampm
* Amoco
* ARCO (Northern CA, OR, and WA locations)
* Thorntons
* To Go (BP and Amoco only)

Facilities|

* Atlantis
* Castrol Technology Centre
* Kingsbury
* Iolair
* Lavera Refinery
* Mad Dog oil field
* Northstar
* Oil fields
* Sangachal
* Sullom Voe
* Sunbury
* Thunder Horse

Sponsorships|

* BP Ford World Rally Team
* BP National Championships
* BP Natural World Book Prize
* BP Pedestrian Bridge
* BP Portrait Award
* BP Top 8
* BP Ultimate Acropolis Rally

People|

* Robert Anderson
* Sylvia Baca
* John Browne
* Robert Dudley
* William Fraser
* William D'Arcy
* Tony Hayward
* Robert Horton
* Angela Strank
* Doug Suttles
* Carl-Henric Svanberg

Controversies|

* Abadan crisis
* ARCO explosion
* Deepwater Horizon explosion
* Deepwater Horizon oil spill
* Invasion of Iran
* Iranian coup
* Prudhoe Bay oil spill
* Texas City refinery explosion
* Torrey Canyon oil spill

Historical units|

* Alyeska Pipeline Service Company
* Amoco
* Anglo-Persian Oil Company
* Aral
* Atlantic Richfield
* BP Biofuels Highlands
* BP Canada
* BP Solar
* Britoil
* Burmah
* Commonwealth Oil Refineries
* Deepwater Horizon
* FPSO Noble Seillean
* Iraq
* Kent Refinery
* Helios House
* Llandarcy Oil Refinery
* National Benzole
* Pure Planet (24%)
* Sea Quest
* Shell-Mex & BP
* Sidanko (10%)
* Sohio
* Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (49%)

Other|

* Anglo-Iranian Oil Co. case
* BP America Production Co. v. Burton
* BP Structure
* Burmah Oil Co Ltd v Lord Advocate
* D'Arcy Concession
* North Sea crash
* Opal

* Category
* Commons

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF

National|

* United States

Other|

* Yale LUX

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