The state-owned British National Oil Corporation (BNOC) planned to take control of BP’s North Sea assets in the 1970s before the UK Government intervened.
The revelation comes in a book written by oil and gas expert Professor Alex Kemp on the government’s shifting position on the industry over the years.
Prof Kemp made the discovery after gaining unrestricted access to thousands of government files and records on the energy sector between 1964 and 1993.
In his book, the Official History of North Sea Oil and Gas, Prof Kemp said that BNOC chairman Lord Kearton believed the firm was “just an oil company on paper” and wanted to gain more assets quickly.
Prof Kemp said that along with Tony Benn, who was energy secretary until 1979, Lord Kearton pushed for BNOC to be given permission to carry out a compulsory takeover of BP’s North Sea assets until Prime Minister Harold Wilson stood in the way.
Prof Kemp’s book also revealed that just years later, after the Conservative Party took power in 1979, Chancellor Nigel Lawson considered selling BNOC to BP as part of privatisation plans.
Backed by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Mr Lawson wanted to take the government away from oil and gas production, but decided to sell shares in the state-owned company on the open market instead of offloading the organisation on to BP.
Prof Kemp said: “It was quite ironic that, after trying to take all of BP’s assets, BNOC could have been sold to the company entirely.
“It was Nigel Wilson who pushed through the privatisation, and he mulled selling BNOC to BP lock, stock and barrel. It would have been a very controversial move because they may not have received the full value of the company.”
BNOC became Britoil in 1982 and later issued shares on the London Stock Exchange before being bought by BP in 1988.
Prof Kemp said his book also covered the early years of the North Sea industry, when many figures in the sector were sceptical about the amount of oil in the region.
“A BP executive made a bet with a Shell executive that he would be able to drink every barrel of oil found in the North Sea because he was so confident it would be a minimal amount,” Prof Kemp said.
The Official History of North Sea Oil and Gas is available from today.
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