FAKE BP staff surprised those attending an exhibition launch this week to call for an end to the oil and gas company's sponsorship of the British Museum.

A group of performers from the activist theatre group BP or not BP set up a "welcoming committee" during an Iraqi civilian protest on Tuesday in front of the private viewing of the "I am Ashurbanipal" exhibition at the museum, which includes artefacts from modern-day Iraq.

Activists accuse the museum and the oil major of whitewashing BP complicity in the 2003 coalition invasion, declaring they should be "ashamed."

They said: "BP has played a key role in the war and in environmental destruction in Iraq.

"This has fuelled the social and economic inequality that Iraqis continue to suffer from and protest against.

"The museum must end this sponsorship and also address how it has sourced the pieces for this exhibition. We won’t allow Iraqi culture to be exploited, especially from those who have contributed to such devastation."

The group also said they stand in solidarity with protests in Iraq calling for the provision of basic needs.

A spoof banner was displayed using BP's logo with the slogans "BP: Making You History" and "Sponsoring the past, destroying the future."

BP was "desperate" to get into Iraq before the invasion as it was "the big oil prospect," according to government documents released in 2011.

The oil sector accounts for 99 per cent of Iraq's export revenues,  making billions of dollars, but only 1 per cent of jobs as most posts are filled by workers brought in from elsewhere.