A history of the British Petroleum Company

Longhurst, Henry. Adventure in Oil. The Story of British Petroleum.

€ 350,00

Only edition. A handsome publication on the history of the British Petroleum Company, now BP, with endpapers depicting maps of Saudi Arabia and the activities of British Petroleum. Numerous black and white photographic plates illustrate the entire history of the company. Includes a foreword by Sir Winston Churchill, who writes that he was himself "closely assocuated with [the British Petroleum Company] in 1913 and 1914: "The pioneering of the vast oil industry of the Middle East is a story of vigour and adventure in the best traditions of the merchant venturers of Britain" (p. 5).

The book's unlikely author, Henry Longhurst (1909-78), was best known as a golf writer and commentator. However, he dabbled in many areas, including British politics and a venture in the 1940s a visit to Arabian oilfields representing the airline Skyways, which was promoting further air travel to develop services in the region. He wrote generally about the experience in a 1949 publication, "You never know till you get there", but writes more specifically about the oil industry here, with chapters dedicated to the entire complex history of the British Petroleum Company's interests in Arabia and beyond, told in his usual dryly witty style.

Light wear to dust jacket, otherwise in good condition.