Anadarko Petroleum History

According to the Anadarko Petroleum Corp. website, Anadarko had grown from its establishment in 1959, into the largest independent oil and gas exploration and production company in the world at the end of the 2009 fiscal year .

Establishment

The Funding Universe website reports that Anadarko Petroleum was established as the Anadarko Production Co. in 1959. The corporation was created by the Panhandle Eastern Pipeline Co. in an attempt to bypass U.S. federal rules capping the price of gas that could be charged by pipeline companies. The Anadarko production Co. was created as an independent company to avoid price-capping regulations.

Geography

The initial production area of Anadarko Petroleum was the Panhandle Basin of Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas, but it moved into offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico in the 1970s. Funding Universe reports that after a name change to Anadarko Petroleum Corp. in 1985 Anadarko looked to foreign oil fields in countries such as Algeria to increase its production capacity.

Size

At the end of the 2009 fiscal year Anadarko has proven oil reserves of 2.3 billion barrels of oil, according to Anadarko. In the 21st century the size of Anadarko was increased with the acquisition of North American oil and gas production companies such as Union Pacific Resources Group and Berkeley Petroleum.

References

• Anadarko: About Anadarko
• Funding Universe: Anadarko Petroleum Corp.