BP entered the Canadian market in October 1953, when it purchased a 23 percent stake in the Triad Oil Company.

The company began acquiring retail stations in Ontario and Quebec and in 1957 started construction on a refinery in Montreal.

British Petroleum's activities in Canada began in the aftermath of the nationalization of the Iranian oil industry in 1951.

As a result of a bill passed in March of the year, the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company – British Petroleum's predecessor – was forced to sell its assets in Iran to the government.

The sale of Anglo-Iranian's assets in Iran gave the company a large amount of money to invest in new markets.

On 20 August, a group of officials led by Peter Cox from D'Arcy Exploration, a subsidiary company, arrived in Edmonton to meet with N. Eldon Tanner, the Alberta government's Minister of Mines and Minerals.

[1] A year later, in October 1953, Anglo-Iranian announced its intention to invest, via D'Arcy Exploration, $5 million in a 23 percent stake of the Calgary-based Triad Oil Company.

In February of that year, BP Canada announced a $60 million plan to construct a 30,000 barrels-per-day refinery in Montreal and develop a chain of retail outlets in Quebec and Ontario.

[5] At the same time, BP Canada contracted Christian Dior to design the uniforms for its female service station attendants.

[6] In April 1958, the company announced its entry into the Ontario market with the purchase of six retail stations in the Ottawa area.

All of BP's Canadian assets, including D'Arcy Exploration's 50 percent stake in Triad Oil, were transferred to it.

[8] BP Canada's first president was Sir Alastair Frederick Down MC OBE (1914–2004), who had begun working for Anglo-Iranian in 1938.

BP Canada made its largest purchase to date in 1964, when it acquired the refining and marketing assets of Canada-Cities Service Limited for $50 million.

The August 1969 discovery of the Prudhoe Bay Oil Field inspired British Petroleum to increase its investments in North America.

In October 1982, rumors began to circulate about the possibility of Petro-Canada or the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec purchasing BP Canada.

Downstream assets were consolidated into a company called BP Refining and Marketing Limited, which Petro-Canada purchased for $16.10 a share.

Upstream assets were consolidated in a company called BP Resources Canada Limited, which would continue.

The head offices in Toronto were closed and the executive functions moved to BP House in Calgary, which had been the home of the company's western operations.

After six years of absence, British Petroleum returned to Canada when on 31 December 1998 it completed its $53 billion merger with Amoco.

As of 2012[update], following the divestment of its natural gas and natural gas liquids businesses, current BP operations in Canada focus on oil sands, including joint ventures with companies including Husky Energy and Devon Energy.

[18] It has activities in Alberta, the Northwest Territories,[19] and offshore in Nova Scotia[20] and the Canadian Beaufort Sea, and as of 2012 employed more than 450 employees.

[26] During 2010 and 2011, BP Canada sold its natural gas operations as part of divestments following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.