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Britoil plc was originally a
privatised Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...
British oil company operating in the
North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegia ...
. It was once a constituent of the
FTSE 100 Index The Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index, also called the FTSE 100 Index, FTSE 100, FTSE, or, informally, the "Footsie" , is a share index of the 100  companies listed on the London Stock Exchange with (in principle) the highest market ...
. The company was acquired by BP in 1988, becoming a
brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...
of it.Britain Drops a Barrier To B.P. Bid for Britoil
on ''The New York Times'', 5 Feb 1988


History

The company was originally formed in 1975 as the ''British National Oil Corporation'' (''BNOC''), a
nationalised Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...
body, under the provisions of the Petroleum & Submarine Pipe-lines Act 1975. Its objective was to maintain adequate oil supply levels. Britoil's interest in UK oil and gas fields in 1982 was as follows. As a result of the
Oil and Gas (Enterprise) Act 1982 The Oil and Gas (Enterprise) Act 1982 (1982 chapter 23) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which started the process of privatisation of the oil and gas industries in the UK. It empowered the government to float off and sell share ...
, BNOC was split to enable the trading sector of the company BNOC to remain nationalised whilst the oil exploration and production sector, Britoil, was a limited liability company. In November 1982, 51% of Governmental shares in Britoil were sold off, however was substantially under-subscribed. The resultant losses were carried by underwriters. The remaining Government minority shareholding in Britoil was sold in November 1985 for £434 million, ensuring it kept a ‘Golden Share’ in order to veto any outsourcing attempts. The collapse in world oil prices globally, combined with the possession of Britoil’s majority share by BP meant that the golden share was sold to British Petroleum in 1988. Britoil’s Production entitlement and financial summary was as follows: In the same year, the company had been subject of an attempted £23 million fraud by one of its own cashiers.


Key people

Chairman and Chief Executive: Baron Kearton (Christopher Frank Kearton) (1975–79), Ronald Utiger (1979–1980), Sir Philip Shelbourne (July 1980 – 1988), Sir Robin Duthie (1988–90). After the splitting off of Britoil Lord Croham, the deputy chairman of BNOC, became chairman of BNOC’s trading activities (1982–85).


See also

*
List of oil exploration and production companies The following is a list of notable companies in the petroleum industry that are engaged in petroleum exploration and production. The list is in alphabetical order by continent and then by country. This list does not include companies only involved ...


References


External links


Worksmart info on Britoil plc

Catalogue of Clive Jenkins' papers re Britoil
held at the
Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick The Modern Records Centre (MRC) is the specialist archive service of the University of Warwick in Coventry, England, located adjacent to the Central Campus Library. It was established in October 1973 and holds the world's largest archive collecti ...
Oil and gas companies of the United Kingdom Former BP subsidiaries Companies based in Aberdeen Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange 1975 establishments in Scotland Non-renewable resource companies established in 1975
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and Nor ...
Non-renewable resource companies disestablished in 1988 1988 disestablishments in Scotland Energy companies established in 1975 British companies disestablished in 1988 British companies established in 1975 {{Company-stub