British Petroleum and the Redline Agreement

In the turbulent history of Mideast oil, one company and one secret pact stand above all others as the pivotal force that, by muscle and maneuver, delivered that region's petroleum to the West. Despite and by virtue of bloody wars to claim, commercialize and control that oil, the combustible flow rarely, if ever, stopped. That company, operating under many prior names, was British Petroleum, now BP. The secret pact it engineered was the secret Redline Agreement.