British Petroleum and its Operations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

British Petroleum and its Operations - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that British Petroleum, which is also referred to as BP PLC is a British international Gas and Oil Company, which its headquarters stationed in London, England. Based on the revenue statistics released in 2012, British Petroleum is the fifth largest Oil and Gas Company in the world. It deals with the exploration, production, transportation, refining, marketing, distribution and trading of oil and petroleum products. It also deals with power generation, research, and exploration of renewable energy sources such as wind energy, solar energy and biofuels. Petroleum helps provide oil-based fuels for machines, lubricants and petroleum products used in infrastructure development, making plastics, gas, and petrochemicals among other products. BP America forms the largest British Petroleum subsidiary. The company also owns nineteen percent stake in Rosneft, which is a Russian Oil Company that is the most publicly traded in the Oil and Gas sector of the stocks exchange. British Petroleum’s market capitalization is an excess of eighty-five billion pounds and makes the fourth largest company listed on the London Stock Exchange. The company is headed by a board, which is responsible for oversight and guidance of the company in the interests of the shareholders. The company’s executive management has several branches that include, Finance, Refining and Marketing, Exploration, Safety and Operational Risk, Production, Strategy and Regions, Corporate Business Activities, Human Resources, and the Upstream department. Various subsidiaries have leaders who report to the main offices in London. There are various external factors that can affect British Petroleum’s success. These include the global economy, natural environment, wars, politics, currency devaluation, infrastructure, customers and the relationship between the company and the local communities. The most important external factors that can affect the compa ny’s success are the global economy and the natural environment. The global economy has a strong influence on the success of British Petroleum as seen during the recession in 2008 when the company recorded falling profits. The profits had declined from eight billion dollars to three dollars. If the recession continued the company would have started to make losses, which would affect its success negatively.