SALES BY BRITISH PETROLEUM

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28013, 6 July 1956, Page 17

SALES BY BRITISH PETROLEUM

COMPANY NEWS

15 PER CENT. INCREASE IN 1955

Substantial progress was made in all aspects of the British Petroleum group’s operations during 1955, said the chairman, Mr B. R. Jackson, at the annual meeting in London this month. Since 1923 total sales have increased 16 times, while during 1955 total sales rose by 15 per cent. Crude oil production increased by 25 per cent., and refining output by 23 per cent., while exploration and marketing operations were further diversified and extended. The roots of this strong demand, said Mr Jackson, lie not only in the growth of industrial activity and improving standards of living, but also — in the Eastern Hemisphere—in the more limited capacity for increasing output of other major sources of energy, especially coal. There is every indication that this combination of factors will maintain the postwar rate of expansion in world petroleum consumption, until nuclear power becomes available to supplement world energy resources on a substantial scale. Thus in the next ten years the world petroleum industry may well be again called upon to double its present output.

In the consolidated profit and loss account of the British Petroleum Company, Ltd., and subsidiary companies, £lO.l million has been set aside for the payment of the final dividend on ordinary stock, of 2s a £1 stock unit, free of income tax. During the trading year, an interim dividend of Is a stock unit has been paid, requiring £5.0 million. Total dividend for the year is equal to 15 per cent.