| Former type | Public |
|---|---|
| Industry | Oil |
| Fate | Acquired |
| Successor | BP |
| Founded | 1886 |
| Defunct | 2000 |
| Headquarters | Glasgow, Scotland, UK |
The Burmah Oil Company was a leading British oil business which was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
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The company was founded in Glasgow, Scotland in 1886 by David Sime Cargill to develop oil fields in the Indian subcontinent. In the late 1890s, it passed into the ownership of Sir Campbell Kirkman Finlay, whose family already possessed vast colonial interests through their trading vehicle James Finlay and Co.
It became an early and major shareholder in British Petroleum, so restricted its downstream interests to the subcontinent, where BP had no business. It played a major role in the oil industry in South Asia for about a century through its subsidiaries, and in discovery of oil in the Middle East through its significant interest in British Petroleum.[1] It marketed itself under the BOC brand in Burma, Pakistan and Assam (in India) and through a joint venture Burmah-Shell with Shell in the rest of India.[2]
Burmah Oil Company created mechanised drilling in Magwe Division's oil fields (Yenangyaung, Chauk, and Minbu).[1] Until 1901, when Standard Oil Company began operating in Burma (now also known as Myanmar), Burmah Oil Company was the sole oil company to operate in Burma. In 1923, the company secretly gave £5,000 (£236,000 in 2011 money)[2] to future Prime Minister Winston Churchill to lobby the British government to allow them to monopolise Persian oil resources.[3] The company operated in Burma until 1963, when Ne Win nationalised all industries in the country.[1] Based on nationalized assets of Burmah Oil, the Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise was created.[4]
The company was involved in a landmark legal case, Burmah Oil Co. v Lord Advocate, concerning the destruction of oil fields in Burma by British forces.[5]
In 1966, Castrol was acquired by Burmah, which was renamed Burmah-Castrol.[6]
The Bank 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.[1]
In 2000, Burmah-Castrol was acquired by the then BP Amoco (now renamed BP).[7]
Until the 2000 acquisition of Burmah-Castrol, the company operated a number of service station sites in Australia. Many of the service station sites were acquired by independent retailer United Petroleum and convenience store giant 7-Eleven.
Burmah also operated sites under the branding Astron and Major. A majority share in Astron was acquired by Burmah-Castrol from Avi Silver and Eddie Hirsch (founders of United Petroleum) in 1990.
Burmah sponsored Swindon Town Football Club from 1991 to 1995, during which time they were promoted to the Premier League but then suffered two successive relegations. Burmah had a head office based within the town.
For a short period they also sponsored the Airedale and Wharfedale Senior Cricket League's Trophy, awarded for the highest combined points total achieved by a member club's first and second XI teams. After a great start to 2010, Colton Cricket Club are well on their way to winning this trophy. At the end of the season Ilkley Cricket Club narrowly won the Burmah Oil Trophy with a combined total of 194 points, the first XI gaining promotion to Division Two and the Second XI becoming Division Three Champions. Their Third XI have reached the playoff Final where they will face Olicanians Cricket Club on Sunday 18 September
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