The Regent Oil Company Ltd was founded in 1947 following a merger between Texaco Petroleum Products and Trinidad Leaseholds. Prior to the war the Regent brand name had been used by Burt, Boulton & Haywood Ltd, a small distributor of motor spirit who had been taken over by Trinidad Leaseholds in 1931. The company had a refinery at Regent's Wharf, London, and sold - 'Regent' and 'Regent Motor Spirit'.

In 1948 the Regent Oil Company bought out Russian Oil Products (R.O.P), who had been trading in the UK during the 1920's and 30's. R.O.P oil supplies came from the Caspian Sea area and was generally cheaper at the pumps than other mainstream British companies such as British Petroleum, Shell and Pratt's. The 1930's had been particularly bad for oil prices and the second world war brought further austerity making the weaker companies targets for takeovers.

1953 saw the end of pooled petrol regulations and Regent began to broaden its operations by selling branded petrol in the UK. The company also had a tanker fleet and this expanded through its Texaco connections. Texaco had various North Sea interests including refineries .

Brands included:
Regent Empire Spirit
Regent Benzole Mixture
TT (Track Tested) Regent
Regent
Regent Super
Regent Derv
Regent Regular

In 1967 Texaco took full control of Regent by buying out Trinidad Leaseholds and began to phase out the Regent brand in favour of the Texaco brand at around 4,000 service stations. Texaco also had other small brand names and in 2004, in a return to the past, re launched them all under the old Regent brand where the familiar red white and blue branding can be seen again.