British Petroleum Part 1 of 3.
By Jason L.G.
As oil and natural gas gush into the Gulf of Mexico, British Petroleum rests on it's 18.3 billion barrel-reserve and it's $239 billion ('09) sales and operating revenue.(1) Despite this being one of the largest oil spills we know of to date, spilling potentially millions of gallons everyday, BP is still making money hand-over-fist.
On May 21, 1901 William Knox D'Arcy, a British-born, Australian Gold tycoon (Mt. Morgan), became an oil tycoon. With a little help from the Queen, he was able to offer the Shah of Persia an offer that was too good to pass up, and D'Arcy secured the rights to over 480,000 square miles of Persia for oil exploration, for 60 years. The deal became known as the D'Arcy Concession.(2) Upon hard-times and years of searching, funds were dwindling and D'Arcy began negotiations with the French branch of the Rothschild's Banking Dynasty, before finally settling on a deal with Burmah Oil, creating Anglo-Persian Oil.(3)
The precursor to this was the Anglo-Persian War in 1856, and dealings of the East India Company, in what is now modern-day Iran. Following the discovery of oil, and the first-ever oil-well in the Middle East, came World War I and II. Winston Churchhill advocated the use of oil over coal, and Anglo-Persian Oil became the number one supplier of crude to the Royal Navy. The British Government also became majority shareholder and backer of further oil exploration and expansion, although this is no longer the case, as the government sold off all it's shares in 1987.(1)(5)
In the United States, Standard Oil of Indiana (A Rockefeller Subsidy) had been in business for over 25 years and had the market cornered.(4) Standard Oil of Indiana eventually became American Oil Company, AMOCO, which later merged with British Petroleum in 1998.(5)
The oil industry began well over 100 years ago, yet we still, by the millions, wake each morning and jump in our cars without question, driving off to work, filling our gas tanks full of gasoline, robbing the Earth of her precious resources, and then polluting ourselves and the environment to boot. British Petroleum, among the handful of others, continue to reap billions upon billions of our hard-earned money, as they show without flinching, as long as the money is rolling in, they will run public relations campaigns, 24/7/365, and exercise "perception management" and "deep-pockets" and continue on like as though nothing of significance is happening. It's just another day in the office...
(1)http://www.bp.com (British Petroleum Official)
(2)http://turtlebunbury.com/darcy/ (The D'Arcy Family-A Family History by Turtle Bunbury)
(3)http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A080230b.htm (Australian Dictionary of Biography Online)
(4)http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/2863.html (Encyclopedia of Chicago)
(5)http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/149259.stm (British Broadcasting Company)
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