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BP Shipping

Logo: Unknown author Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons4

Maritime arm of global oil company

BP Shipping is the maritime arm of British headquartered global oil company, BP. The unit covers the marine transport, logistics and insurance requirements of all BP's global activities. Formed in 1956 as the BP Tanker Company, its roots go back to the British Tanker Company, which was formed to carry products for the Anglo-Persian Oil Company.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1956Founded1

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BP Shipping is the maritime arm of British headquartered global oil company, BP. The unit covers the marine transport, logistics and insurance requirements of all BP's global activities.2

Corporate structure

BP Shipping is part of a group headed by BP. 131 entities, 25 countries on record. Switch between the flow chart and the network, and select any entity to see its details.

Built from parent and subsidiary links from GLEIF, the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (CC0); subsidiaries, stakes and holdings from Wikidata (CC0). Each entity in the chart links to its source.

The story

British Tanker Company

Having initially employed independent contractors to carry its oil from Persia (now Iran) back to Europe and into India, in April 1915 the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC) set up the British Tanker Company (BTC) in April 1915, with an initial capital of £100,000. The BTC placed orders with two Tyneside based shipbuilders, Armstrong Whitworth and Swan Hunter, for a total of seven steam-powered oil tankers.

The BTC's first tanker was the 3,663 gross tonnage British Emperor, launched in 1916. The names of all the first seven ships bore the prefix "British", and all future additions to the fleet have followed the same naming convention. The 60th ship was the new flagship, the 6,998 gross tonnage British Aviator, BTC's first diesel engined oil tanker, and was at that time the most powerful single-screw motor ship in the world.

Through steadying of relationships with the Shah of Iran, APOC managed to strengthen its position within the industry during the Great Depression. With the outbreak of World War II in 1939, the British government chartered the BTC's whole fleet of 93 vessels, to transport fuel for its armed forces. The fleet lost 41 ships sunk during the war, with two others so badly damaged they could only be used as storage hulks.

BP Tanker Company

In November 1954, APOC renamed itself the British Petroleum Company, and in 1956 the BTC became the BP Tanker Company (BPTC). By the end of the 1950s, the BPTC's fleet stood at 146 vessels, including supertankers of 38,000 gross tonnage (67,000 deadweight tonnes), with plans to build tankers of 60,000 gross tonnage (100,000 deadweight tonnes), which would hold more than 25 million US gallons (95,000 m3) of crude oil. A significant development of the tanker fleet was seen in the building of the British Admiral, the first 100,000 dwt tanker built in Europe and launched at Barrow-in-Furness in 1965 by Elizabeth II.

In 1981 the company was renamed BP Shipping Limited to reflect its changing role in managing the tanker fleet.

From Wikipedia’s article on BP Shipping, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5

Products and brands

Today, while BP Shipping remains responsible within the group for all water-born logistics, much of its fleet capacity is gained through hiring other operators vessels. The result is that it is also responsible for marine assurance on everything that is sited within or floats on water.

Employing 2,800 people based mainly in London, Singapore and Chicago, at the end of 2006 BP Shipping managed:

57 vessels - four Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs), one North Sea shuttle tanker, 42 medium size crude and product carriers, seven liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers and three new liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) carriers

24 regional vessels, including coasters

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100 hydrocarbon-carrying vessels above 600 deadweight tonnes on time charter

Resulting in:

The shipping of 270 million tonnes of cargo volume

7,000 voyages, of which at any time 450-500 cargoes are "on the water"

On average two thirds of shipments are made by seagoing tankers, the rest via inland and harbour barges

The marine insurance activity covers 800-900 miscellaneous craft such as tugs, crew boats, barges and seismic vessels used in support of BP group business around the world. All are vetted, with policy being that BP Shipping considers a vessel to be unacceptable unless positively identified otherwise. Of the 4,700 inspections in 2006, half resulted in an initial rejection.

Other marine holdings include:

BP Shipcare: a lay-up facility located in East Malaysia

Alaska Tanker Company: minority shareholding in four purpose-built ships of 110,693 GT retained on time charter to transport crude oil from Alaska to US west coast ports. The ships are Alaskan Legend, Alaskan Explorer, Alaskan Frontier and Alaskan Navigator.

China LNG Shipping: 40% shareholding in ship management service to LNG carriers serving the Guangdong LNG terminal

From Wikipedia’s article on BP Shipping, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5

Subsidiaries and ownership

Parent company (GLEIF)

Ultimate parent

Ownership links from GLEIF, the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (CC0); each one cites its LEI record.

Timeline

  1. Nov 2, 2021Parent Directly consolidated by BP INTERNATIONAL LIMITED3
  2. 1956Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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