| 1908 | Englishman William Knox D`Arcy finds oil in Persia (south-west
Asia) and forms the Anglo-Persian Oil Company to exploit it |
| 1914 | UK government awards oil contract to the company and takes a
controlling stake in the company |
| 1915 | British Tanker Company formed by Anglo-Persian. It orders two
10,000 ton and two 5600 ton oil tankers |
| 1922 | The company owns over twenty-five tankers, capable of carrying
nearly half a million tons of oil between them |
| 1939-45 | Nearly half of the company`s fleet of 93 vessels are lost
during the Second World War |
| 1953 | The first 32,000 ton tanker, British Sailor, is
launched and sails at the Coronation review |
| 1954 | The company merges its shipping fleet with all its other oil
interests to create The British Petroleum Company (BP) |
| 1956 | Suez Canal crisis. Twenty of the company`s vessels are trapped
while the canal is closed |
| 1970 | Oil is discovered in the North Sea - the first major commercial
oil find in UK waters |
| 1990 | BP cuts back its tanker fleet to 30 vessels, due to
overproduction of oil around the world |
