The refinery was built and began operating in 1912.[1] In 1913, the British government acquired a controlling interest (50.0025%) in the company then, at the urging of Winston Churchill, the then First Lord of the Admiralty, the British navy quickly switched from coal to oil for the majority of their war ships.[2][4][5] In 1914, APOC signed a 30-year contract with the British Admiralty for supplying oil for the Royal Navy at the fixed price.[6] In 1915, APOC established its shipping subsidiary the British Tanker Company and in 1916, it acquired the British Petroleum Company which was a marketing arm of the German Europäische Petroleum Union in Britain.[3] In 1919, the company became a shale-oil producer by establishing a subsidiary named Scottish Oils which merged remaining Scottish oil-shale industries.[7][8][9][10]