Shell-Mex and BP Ltd was a British

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...

between petroleum companies

Royal Dutch Shell Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New Yo ...

(Shell) and BP. It was formed in 1932 when both companies decided to merge their United Kingdom marketing operations,Reference and contact details: GB 1566 SMBP Title:Shell-Mex and BP Archive Dates of Creation: 1900-1975 Held at: BP Archive GB 1566 SMBP partly in response to the difficult economic conditions of the times. The parent organisations demerged their United Kingdom marketing operations in 1976. The announcement of this action was as follows:

Since 1932 the products of the Companies of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group and of The British Petroleum Group have been marketed in the UK through the agency of Shell-Mex and B.P. Ltd. In that year the company's business amounted to about 3 million tons, out of a total UK market of some 7 million tons. The activities of this most successful enterprise have extended greatly over the years. In 1970 Shell-Mex and B.P. Ltd. supplied 40 million tons of the UK petroleum market, amounting to a total of 100 million tons. In the majority of countries outside the UK. Shell and BP have always each marketed their products through their own entirely separate organisations and it has been decided that Shell and BP marketing operations in the UK should now be brought more into line with this pattern over the next 4-5 years. Since 1966 the Shell and the BP Service Station networks have been managed by separate sales organisations within Shell-Mex and B.P. It is now proposed to extend this 'brand streaming' progressively to cover all products and all market sectors. This will ultimately lead to the establishment of two viable marketing organisations within Shell-Mex and B.P. thus facilitating the termination of the agency agreement. The National Benzole Company will continue to trade under the National brand and will form part of the BP marketing organisation. The Supply, Storage and Delivery functions, and the Computer and other services, will be the object of further detailed study once brand streaming of direct trade is substantially complete and a plan for the treatment of Authorised Distributors is agreed. Should it be decided that these functions should continue for a period after the transfer of the sales activities, then these will continue to be carried out by Shell-Mex and B.P. The employees of Shell-Mex and B.P. will be redeployed within the separate marketing organisations and redundancies will not arise as a result of this re-organisation.

The company's head office was at

Shell Mex House Shell Mex House, also known as 80 Strand, is a grade II listed building located at number 80 Strand in London, England. The building was opened in 1932 on the site of the Hotel Cecil and stands behind the original façade of the hotel, between ...

on London's

Strand Strand may refer to: Topography *The flat area of land bordering a body of water, a: ** Beach ** Shoreline * Strand swamp, a type of swamp habitat in Florida Places Africa * Strand, Western Cape, a seaside town in South Africa * Strand Street ...

Other companies acquired by Shell-Mex and BP Ltd

* 1934 Dominion Motor Spirit * 1957

National Benzole National Benzole was a petroleum brand used in the United Kingdom from 1919 to the 1990s. In 1957, the National Benzole Co. became wholly owned by Shell-Mex & BP (through British Petroleum) but continued its separate trading identity. In the ear ...

References

{{Authority control Oil and gas companies of the United Kingdom Defunct companies of the United Kingdom Joint ventures Former BP subsidiaries Former Shell plc subsidiaries Energy companies established in 1932 Non-renewable resource companies established in 1932 Non-renewable resource companies disestablished in 1975 1932 establishments in England 1975 disestablishments in the United Kingdom British companies established in 1932