The company's future was secured at the end of the 1960s by major oil dis-coveries in Alaska and the North Sea. In 1965 BP found gas in British waters of the North Sea. In October 1970 it discovered the Forties field, the first major commercial oil find in British waters. Throughout the 1960s BP had also been looking for oil in Alaska, and in 1969 this effort was rewarded by a major dis-covery at Prudhoe Bay on the North Slope. In the previous year BP had ac-quired the U.S. East Coast refining and marketing operations from Atlantic Richfield Company, and the stage was now set for a surge of expansion in the United States. Through its large share in Prudhoe Bay, BP owned more than 50 percent of the biggest oil field in the United States, and it needed outlets for this oil. 
The solution was a 1969 agreement with the Standard Oil Company of Ohio (SOHIO), the market leader in Ohio and several neighboring states. Under the agreement, SOHIO took over BP's Prudhoe Bay leases as well as the down-stream facilities acquired from Atlantic Richfield. In return, BP acquired 25 percent of SOHIO's equity. In 1970 BP and SOHIO engaged in a seven-year struggle to develop the Prudhoe Bay oil field and construct the 800-mile Trans Alaska Pipeline system, which was finally completed in 1977. By the following year BP had taken a majority holding in SOHIO. Later, in 1987, BP would ac-quire SOHIO outright and merge it with BP's other interests in the United States to form a new company: BP America. 
The oil price shocks and the transformation of the balance of power be-tween oil companies and host governments that occurred in the 1970s caused many problems for BP, as for other Western oil companies. BP lost most of its direct access to crude oil supplies produced in countries that belonged to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). The company's oil assets were nationalized in Libya in 1971 and Nigeria in 1979. BP and Shell clashed with the British government in 1973 over the allocation of scarce oil supplies. BP's chairman, Sir Eric Drake, refused to give priority to supplying the United Kingdom, despite forceful reminders from Prime Minister Edward Heath that the government owned half of the company. 
Problems in the oil industry prompted BP to diversify away from its tradi-tional role as an integrated oil company heavily dependent on Middle Eastern oil production. Beginning in the mid-1970s, BP built up a large coal business, especially in the United States, Australia, and South Africa. BP's chemical in-terests also expanded during this period, especially after 1978, when it acquired major European assets from Union Carbide and Monsanto. Also in the mid-1970s, BP became active in mineral mining, acquiring Selection Trust, a mining finance house based in Great Britain, in what was then the London stock mar-ket's largest-ever takeover bid. 
In 1981, a five-year acquisitions binge costing approximately £10 billion was guided. It included the purchase of the Purina Mills animal feed company in 1986 as well as the purchase of the remaining shares in SOHIO. In 1981 SOHIO acquired Keiecott, the largest U.S. copper producer. 
Seen retrospectively, this diversification strategy was not always a wise one. A major world recession after 1979 led to considerable overcapacityforcing BP to close down or sell off parts of its chemicals business in the early 1980s. Late in the decade, the energy conglomerate sold off its coal and minerals interests in the United States, Canada, Indonesia, Australia, and South Africa, netting £428 million in the process. BP started to consoli-date its upstream business through divestment in the late 1980s. Another sale of selected worldwide oil and gas interests and assets brought in $1,3 billion. In 1990 and 1991 sales of exploration interests and assets in New Zealand, France, the Netherlands, and from the BP Exploration division in particular totaled £830 million. 
One notably successful acquisition was Britoil, a company established by the British government in the 1970s to participate in North Sea oil exploration. Britoil had become one of the largest independent oil exploration and produc-tion companies, and in acquiring it, BP almost doubled its exploration acreage in the North Sea. 
 
Say true or false. And why?
1. BP never discovered oil fields in North America. 
2. SOHIO took over BP's Prudhoe Bay leases. 
3. In 1981 SOHIO acquired Keiecott, the largest Canadian copper pro-ducer. 
4. In the mid-1970s, BP built up a coal business especially in South Af-rica. 
5. In 1990 and 1991 sales of exploration interests and assets in New Zea-land, France, the Netherlands, and from the BP Exploration division in particular totaled £ 830 billion.