Berry Wiggins and Co
Berry Wiggins and Co Ltd. oil refiner and maker of Aquaseal of Tensulam House, Water Lane, Stratford, London. (1937); of Field House, Breams Buildings, Fetter Lane, London. (1949); of Breams Buildings, London, EC4. (1956).
1922 Private company formed to supply bitumen to the road industry and electrical manufacturers; operating at Stratford, E London.
1924 The company produced bitumen from a plant at Sharnel Street on the Isle of Grain
1929 Incorporated as a public company; premises at Kingsnorth, Ellesmere Port, Weaste (Salford) and Stratford (London)
1930 Built oil refinery at Kingsnorth on the Hoo peninsular in Kent in order to have its own supply of bitumen.
1932 Built another refinery at Weaste.
1937 Manufacturers of battery containers, electrical insulating compounds and paints. "Coldcoat" Cold Bitumen. "Fibrotect" Wood Preservative. "Kingsnorth" Bitumen and Electrical Insulating Compounds. [1]
1953 Capital issue to fund a new 2-stage distillation unit being installed at Kingsnorth, and for business expansion[2] in open storage facilities, in asphalt for road making and in other oil-derived products.
1963 Link up with Gulf Oil, in which the company issued Gulf with shares at above market price, would provide closer connection with a producer of crude oil[3].
1967 Sold the Chevron name to Standard Oil of California which used the Chevron name for petrol in other markets and was on the point of launching petrol sales in the UK market[4].
1972 Purchase of interest in a Bahrain oil royalty and interest in 2 blocks in the Celtic Sea[5].
1973 Plan to build a new bitumen refinery at Kingsnorth, taking feed from the adjacent BP refinery, and close the old refinery[6]. Formed one of the first British consortia to own drilling rigs for use in the North Sea[7]. Bid for Sea Search, an oil exploration group[8].
1974 Acquired KCA Drilling, moving the company further towards being an oil servicing and contracting group[9].
1977 The Kingsnorth refinery was closed.
1977 Changed name to KCA International[10].
1981 After financial problems, KCA International decided to float 25 percent of its drilling subsidiary KCA Drilling[11]
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ 1937 The Aeroplane Directory of the Aviation and Allied Industries
- ↑ The Times, 13 July 1953
- ↑ The Times, 27 February 1963
- ↑ The Times, 1 August 1967
- ↑ The Times, 26 September 1972
- ↑ The Times, 6 June 1973
- ↑ The Times, 23 March 1973
- ↑ The Times, 18 July 1973
- ↑ The Times, 18 July 1974
- ↑ The Times 7 October 1977
- ↑ The Times May 30, 1981
- Bitumen companies [1]
- The Times, 12 December 1933