This 1956 film was written and produced by Jack Howells for British Petroleum and tells the history of the company. It covers the prospecting for oil in Persia and the eventual construction of the Abadan Refinery complex with extensive footage of this. This is followed by the company’s expansion into new markets following the Abadan crisis as well as other challenges it had to face including the Suez Crisis. The film also strongly pushes a narrative of colonial progress, notably how the oil riches are “generously” redistributed in the countries of extraction through the construction of schools and hospitals.

0:08 vehicles driving down roads in London, 0:31 “Oil for the 20th Century” A BP Film, 0:40 a historian going through documents, 1:23 different landscapes in Persia including the desert, rivers, and cities, 2:24 people crossing the desert with their cattle, 2:45 G.B Reynolds, 2:59 shots from a camp in the desert, 3:47 workers digging and constructing the first oil wells in Persia and operating them, 6:00 Royal Navy Ships, 6:11 Winston Churchill getting out of a car, 6:28 workers digging paths and preparing infrastructure for oil extraction, 7:08 pipelines being constructed, 7:48 combat footage from the First World War with a focus on petrol powered vehicles, 8:22 oil pipelines in Persia, 8:25 operations at the Abadan Oil Refinery, 9:25 footage of new petrol powered vehicles including racecars, motorcycles, and cars, 10:19 amenities at the Abadan refinery including a police station, cinema, and a sailing regatta, 11:05 tanker ships sailing and being loaded, 12:05 petrol powered vehicles with a focus on planes, 12:42 street scenes from London, 13:09 oil wells in operation in Persia, 13:49 the expanded oil refinery in Abadan as seen from above, 14:25 BP employees prospecting for oil, 14:52 a new pipeline being constructed to transport oil from the Lali oil fields, 15:21 construction at the Abadan Refinery, 15:32 scientists working in a lab, 15:48 combat footage from the Second World War with a focus on petrol powered vehicles, 16:33 towers at the Abadan Refinery, 16:50 British troops guarding oil infrastructure in Persia, 17:41 construction of a new oil well on the Great Kuwait Oil Field, 18:01 oil exploitation in Iraq, 18:07 oil canisters being produced and transported in large numbers, 18:26 a tanker lorry driving through a snowy landscape, 19:00 planning and construction of new tanker ships, 19:49 the “British Adventure” tanker being launched and then sailing, 20:05 map of BP oil fields in Persia, 20:22 the Abadan Oil Refinery at night, 20:34 street scenes from Abadan, 21:17 narrative of progress of colonialism with schools, universities, and hospitals in Persia shown, 22:14 aerial overview of mountains in Persia, 22:34 oil wells in Persia, 22:51 construction of new refineries in Scotland, Aden, Kwinana, Kent, Antwerp, Dunkirk, and Kuwait, 24:38 tankers on the high seas, 25:13 scuttled ships in the Suez Canal, 25:46 different shots of tanker operations, 26:17 BP employees prospecting for oil in the Amazon Rainforest, 26:57 mail being sorted, 27:26 an oil well being drilled, 28:12 oil being transported in tankers and trucks to locations all over the globe, 28:50 narrative of colonial progress as a result of oil showing schools, hospitals, and employment, 30:26 Written and Produced by Jack Howells, 30:40 Made by Jack Howells Productions LTD.

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