Anglo-Persian Oil Company

The Anglo-Persian Oil Company was a British company founded in 1909 following the discovery of a large <a href="/facts/Oil_field/wYoSQmGN">oil field</a> in <a href="/facts/Masjed_Soleiman/C1FExxYf">Masjed Soleiman</a>, <a href="/facts/Persia/24yukge8">Persia</a> (<a href="/facts/Name_of_Iran/753SuPfg">Iran</a>). The <a href="/facts/Government_of_the_United_Kingdom/3zLlUWbx">British government</a> purchased 51% of the company in 1914, gaining a controlling number of shares, effectively nationalizing the company. It was the first company to extract <a href="/facts/Petroleum/IQV0bHVd">petroleum</a> from <a href="/facts/Iran/24yukge8">Iran</a>. In 1935 APOC was renamed the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC) when <a href="/facts/Reza_Shah/3c5dNTrb">Reza Shah</a> formally asked foreign countries to refer to Persia by its <a href="/facts/Endonym/8pyd1nE9">endonym</a> <a href="/facts/Names_of_Iran/753SuPfg">Iran</a>.
In 1954, it was renamed again to The British Petroleum Company, one of the antecedents of the modern <a href="/facts/BP/awvwSJ3x">BP</a> <a href="/facts/Public_limited_company/PzReaSle">public limited company</a>. The government of <a href="/facts/Mohammad_Mosaddegh/IAm34V5s">Mohammad Mosaddegh</a> nationalized the company's local infrastructure assets and gave the new company the name <a href="/facts/National_Iranian_Oil_Company/XMFasPM8">National Iranian Oil Company</a>.

Anglo-Persian Oil Company open-in-new

Anglo-Persian Oil Company