Anglo-Persian Oil Company

Anglo-Persian Oil Company
	The former Anglo-Persian Oil Company (now Foreign Ministry No.3) building in Tehran
Industry	Petroleum
Founded	14 April 1909
Founders	William Knox D'Arcy; Charles Greenway;
Defunct	16 December 1954
Fate	Became "British Petroleum Company", assets nationalised by the Iranian government
Successor	National Iranian Oil Company; BP
Headquarters	Tehran, Iran
Area served	Iran
Products	Gasoline, motor oils

The Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC) was a British company founded in 1909 following the discovery of a large oil field in Masjed Soleiman, Persia (Iran). The British government purchased 51% of the company in 1914,^[1] gaining a controlling number of shares, effectively nationalizing the company. It was the first company to extract petroleum from Iran. In 1935 APOC was renamed the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC) when Reza Shah formally asked foreign countries to refer to Persia by its endonym Iran.

In 1954, it was renamed again to the British Petroleum Company, one of the antecedents of the modern BP public limited company. The government of Mohammad Mosaddegh nationalized the company's local infrastructure assets and gave the new company the name National Iranian Oil Company.

^ Kuiken, Jonathan (2014). "Caught in Transition: Britain's Oil Policy in the Face of Impending Crisis, 1967–1973". Historical Social Research / Historische Sozialforschung. 39 (4): 272–290. JSTOR 24145537.

[1] Kuiken, Jonathan (2014). "Caught in Transition: Britain's Oil Policy in the Face of Impending Crisis, 1967–1973". Historical Social Research / Historische Sozialforschung. 39 (4): 272–290. JSTOR 24145537.

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