Lasmo plc was a British

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

and gas

exploration Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...

and production business. It was listed on the

London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...

and was 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 marke ...

History

The Company was founded in 1971 as London and Scottish Marine Oil (LASMO) to explore 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 Norwegian ...

.Lasmo falls to £2.4bn bid from Amerada Hess
The Independent, 7 November 2000 It struck oil in the Ninian Field in 1974 and was first listed on the

in 1977. In the early 1990s it expanded its operations into

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Gui ...

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

and

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. It bought

Ultramar plc Ultramar plc was a leading British oil and gas exploration and production business. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. History The Company was founded by four South African goldmining concerns ...

in 1991 in a hostile takeover battle. It successfully fought off a hostile bid from

Enterprise Oil Enterprise Oil was a major UK independent exploration and production company based in Europe, with core areas of activity in the United Kingdom and Ireland, mainland Europe, Brazil and the Gulf of Mexico. The Company was once a constituent of t ...

in 1994. It expanded into

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

in 1997 paying $453m for an interest in the Dacion Field. In 1999 it acquired Monument Oil & Gas for £460m. In 2001 it was acquired by

Eni Eni S.p.A. () is an Italian multinational energy company headquartered in Rome. Considered one of the seven "supermajor" oil companies in the world, it has operations in 69 countries with a market capitalization of US$54.08 billion, as of 11 Ap ...

, who successfully outbid an initial offer from

Amerada Hess Hess Corporation (formerly Amerada Hess Corporation) is an American global independent energy company involved in the exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas. It was formed by the merger of Hess Oil and Chemical and Amerada Petr ...

.Eni swoops on Lasmo
BBC News, 21 December 2000

References

Non-renewable resource companies established in 1971 Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange Defunct companies based in London Defunct oil companies Defunct oil and gas companies of the United Kingdom Energy companies established in 1971 1971 establishments in England {{UK-company-stub