BP waves goodbye to Britishness causes few ripples in UK

Similar protests have arisen when the targeted firms are especially iconic or beloved. When Kraft Inc. bought chocolate maker Cadbury earlier this year, sweet-toothed Britons worried about jobs — and the quality of their confectionery — complained. The deal went through nonetheless, and Kraft announced it was closing a factory in Somerdale, western England, that employed 400 people.

In BP's case, Britons complain that Americans have overemphasized BP's Britishness since an explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico in April triggered the biggest offshore oil spill in U.S. history.

President Barack Obama and other politicians pointedly referred to the company as “British Petroleum,” a name it abandoned a decade ago after acquiring U.S. firms Amoco, Arco and Castrol.

“The U.K. public has been mystified about just how much the company was vilified just because it is British,” Gwyther said.

“People on this side of the Atlantic feel very sore about this. They feel quite bruised by the whole thing.”

BP's U.S. ties stretch back decades. It found oil in Alaska in the 1960s, then struck a deal with a U.S. company, Sohio, to sell the petroleum. BP acquired Sohio in 1987 and established a new operation, BP America.

Prime Minister David Cameron has repeatedly stressed BP's multinational status, pointing out that the company is arguably as American as it is British.

It employs almost 23,000 people in the U.S., more than twice as many as in Britain. About 40 percent of shares are held by Americans, roughly the same amount as by Britons. Millions of British pension-holders have investments in BP — but so do millions of American retirees. Several senior board members are American, and chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg is from Sweden.

The company has become more Russian as well. A quarter of BP's output comes from TNK-BP, a Moscow-based firm created in 2003 that it owns 50-50 with a group of Russian oligarchs.

Stephen Pope, chief global equity strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald, said nationalism and investing don't mix.

“We live in a global world,” Pope said. “We need the best person to do the job, not necessarily a national person to do the job.

“It's like people saying the English football team needs an English manager,” rather than its Italian coach, Fabio Capello.

Pope said Dudley's nationality could help BP, especially since he spent part of his childhood in Mississippi, one of the states affected by the oil spill.

“The fact that he is American means he may have a bit more influence with American politicians,” he said. “And as an American, he speaks English.”

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