BP (British Petroleum) is a multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London. It’s known as one of the world’s oil supermajors. Founded in 1909, the company made a breakthrough as one of the first to extract oil from the North Sea. In 1954, it became a founding member of Iranian Oil Participants (IOP), in which it held a 40% share with the intention of bringing Iranian oil back to the international market. By the early 2000s, the company had become one of the world’s largest oil companies through successful mergers, and acquisitions of companies such as Amoco, Atlantic Richfield and Burmah Castrol.