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| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| Industry | Petroleum |
| Founded | 1886 |
| Defunct | 2000 |
| Fate | Purchased byBP Amoco in 2000 |
| Successor | BP |
| Headquarters | Glasgow, Scotland |
| Subsidiaries | Anglo-Persian Oil Company Castrol |
TheBurmah Oil Company was a leading Britishoil company which was once a constituent of theFTSE 100 Index. In 1966,Castrol was acquired by Burmah, which was renamedBurmah-Castrol.BP Amoco purchased the company in 2000.
The company was founded inGlasgow in 1886 byDavid Sime Cargill, an East India merchant, to succeed his Rangoon Oil Company Ltd, also of Glasgow, to further expand and develop oil fields in theIndian subcontinent.[1] On his death in 1904, the ownership and chairmanship passed to his sonJohn Cargill.[2]
In the 1900s,the Admiralty was planning a changeover from coal to fuel oil for powering the engines of its warships. In 1905, Burmah signed a contract with the Admiralty to supply naval fuel oil from Rangoon.[1]
In the first decade of the 20th century, Burmah Oil foundedAnglo-Persian Oil Company to succeed the early prospecting in Persia ofWilliam Knox D'Arcy with Burmah Oil owning 97%. Burmah Oil became the largest oil company in the British Empire. The subsidiary was later renamedAnglo-Iranian Oil Company and eventuallyBP.[3]
In 1938, Burmah Oil was the subject of a major nationalist protest andgeneral strike inBritish Burma, known as the1300 Revolution. Burmah Oil ultimately conceded a few terms, but the strike ended mostly out of fatigue.[4]
For about a century, the company played a major role in the oil industry, and in the discovery of oil in the Middle East through its significant influence over British Petroleum.[5] It marketed itself under theBOC brand inBurma,Bangladesh (formerlyEast Pakistan) andAssam (in India), and through a joint venture Burmah-Shell withShell in the rest of India.[6]
Until 1901, when theStandard Oil Company started operations inBurma, Burmah Oil enjoyed a monopoly in the region. The company operated in Burma until 1963, whenNe Win nationalized all industries in the country.[5] Out of the nationalized assets of Burmah Oil, theMyanma Oil and Gas Enterprise was created.[7]
The company was involved in a landmark legal case in 1964,Burmah Oil Co. v Lord Advocate, concerning compensation for the destruction of oil fields in Burma by British forces in 1942 to avoid them falling into the hands of the invading Japanese army, winning a 3–2 decision in theJudicial Committee of the House of Lords, but the effect of this was specifically reversed by theWar Damage Act 1965.[8]
In 1963, the company left Burma and undertook new exploration in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Australasia, the Americas, Canada and the North Sea until 1986.[9] In 1966, Burmah acquiredCastrol, renaming it Burmah-Castrol.[10]
TheBank of England came to the rescue of Burmah Oil after the company made large losses on its tanker fleets in 1974. The core of the rescue operation was the provision of a year's grace so that the company could become smaller and more viable.[5] The Bank of England also agreed to guarantee $650 million of the company's foreign currency borrowings.[11]
In 2000, Burmah was acquired byBP Amoco.[12]
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