Gulf Oil
Encyclopedia
Gulf Oil was a major global oil
company
from the 1900s to the 1980s. The eighth-largest American manufacturing company in 1941 and the ninth-largest in 1979, Gulf Oil was one of the so-called Seven Sisters
oil companies. Prior to its merger with Standard Oil of California
, Gulf was one of the chief instruments of the legendary Mellon family
fortune; both Gulf and Mellon Financial
had their headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
.
Gulf's former headquarters, originally referred to as "the Gulf Building" (now the Gulf Tower
office condos), is an art-deco skyscraper
. The tallest building in Pittsburgh until 1970, when it was eclipsed by the U.S. Steel Tower
, it is capped by a step pyramid structure several stories high. Until the late 1970s, the entire top was illuminated, changing color with changes in barometric pressure to provide a weather indicator that could be seen for many miles.
Gulf Oil Corporation (GOC) ceased to exist as an independent company in 1985, when it merged with SOCAL, with both re-branding as Chevron
. However, the Gulf brand name and a number of the constituent business divisions of GOC survived. Gulf has experienced a significant revival since 1990, emerging as a flexible network of allied business interests based on partnerships, franchises and agencies.
Gulf, in its present incarnation, is a "New Economy
" business. It employs very few people directly and its assets are mainly in the form of intellectual property
: brand
s, product specifications and scientific expertise. The rights to the brand in the United States
are owned by Gulf Oil Limited Partnership
(GOLC), which is a wholly owned subsidiary
of Cumberland Farms
and operates over 2,100 service stations and several petroleum terminals; it is headquartered in Framingham, Massachusetts
. The corporate vehicle at the center of the Gulf network outside the USA, Spain
& Portugal
is GOI, a company owned by the Hinduja Group. The company's focus is primarily in the provision of downstream products and services to a mass market through joint ventures, strategic alliances, licensing agreements, and distribution arrangements. Gulf Oil International has its head office in the City of Westminster
, London
.
near Beaumont, Texas
. A group of investors came together to promote the development of a modern refinery at nearby Port Arthur
to process the oil. The largest investor was William Larimer Mellon
of the Pittsburgh Mellon banking family. Other investors included many of Mellon's Pennsylvania clients as well as some Texas wildcatters. Mellon Bank and Gulf Oil remained closely associated thereafter. The Gulf Oil Corporation itself was formed in 1907 through the amalgamation of a number of oil businesses, principally the J.M. Guffey Petroleum and Gulf Refining companies of Texas. The name of the company refers to the Gulf of Mexico
where Beaumont lies.
Output from Spindletop
peaked at around 100000 oilbbl/d just after it was discovered and then started to decline. Later discoveries made 1927 the peak year of Spindletop production, but Spindletop's early decline forced Gulf to seek alternative sources of supply to sustain its substantial investment in refining capacity. This was achieved by constructing the 400-mile (640-km) Glenn Pool pipeline connecting oilfields in Oklahoma
with Gulf's refinery at Port Arthur
. The pipeline opened in September 1907. Gulf later built a network of pipelines and refineries in the eastern and southern United States
, requiring heavy capital investment. Thus, Gulf Oil provided Mellon Bank with a secure vehicle for investing in the oil sector.
Gulf promoted the concept of branded product sales by selling gasoline
in containers and from pumps marked with a distinctive orange disc logo. A customer buying Gulf-branded gasoline could be assured of its quality and consistent standard. (In the early 20th century, non branded gasoline in the U.S was often contaminated or of unreliable quality).
Gulf Oil grew steadily in the inter-war years, with its activities mainly confined to the U.S. The company was characterized by its vertically integrated business activities, and was active across the whole spectrum of the oil industry: exploration
, production
, transport
, refining
and marketing
. It also involved itself in associated industries such as petrochemicals and automobile component manufacturing. It introduced significant commercial and technical innovations, including the first drive-in service station (1911), complimentary road maps, drilling over water at Ferry Lake
, and the catalytic cracking refining process (Gulf installed the world's first commercial catalytic cracking unit at its Port Arthur, Texas
, refinery complex in 1951). Gulf also established the model for the integrated, international "oil major," which refers to one of a group of very large companies that assumed influential and sensitive positions in the countries in which they operated.
Gulf had extensive exploration and production operations in the Gulf of Mexico
, Canada
, and Kuwait
. The company played a major role in the early development of oil production in Kuwait, and through the 1950s and '60s apparently enjoyed a "special relationship" with the Kuwaiti government. This special relationship attracted unfavourable attention since it was associated with "political contributions" (see below) and support for anti-democratic politics, as evidenced by papers taken from the body of a Gulf executive killed in the crash of a TWA aircraft at Cairo in 1950.
In 1934, the Kuwait Oil Company was formed as a joint venture by BP and Gulf. Both BP and Gulf held equal shares in the venture. KOC pioneered the exploration for oil in Kuwait
during the late 1930s. Oil was discovered at Burgan
in 1938 but it was not until 1946 that the first crude oil was shipped. Oil production started from Rawdhatain in 1955 and Minagish in 1959. KOC started gas production in 1964. It was the cheap oil and gas being shipped from Kuwait that formed the economic basis for Gulf’s diverse petroleum sector operations in Europe, the Mediterranean, Africa, and the Indian subcontinent. These last operations were coordinated by Gulf Oil Company, Eastern Hemisphere Ltd (GOCEH) from their offices at 2 Portman Street in London W1.
Gulf expanded on a worldwide basis from the end of the Second World War. The company leveraged its international drilling experience to other areas of the world, and by mid-1943 had established a presence in the oil fields of Venezuela
. Much of the company's retail sales expansion was through the acquisition of privately owned chains of filling stations in various countries, allowing Gulf outlets to sell product (sometimes through 'matching' arrangements) from the oil that it was "lifting" in Canada, the Gulf of Mexico, Kuwait, and Venezuela. Some of these acquisitions were to prove less than resilient in the face of economic and political developments from the 1970s on. Gulf invested heavily in product technology and developed many speciality products, particularly for application in the maritime and aviation engineering sectors. It was particularly noted for its range of lubricants and greases.
Gulf Oil reached the peak of its development around 1970. In that year, the company processed 1.3 Moilbbl of crude daily, held assets worth $6.5 billion, employed 58,000 employees worldwide, and was owned by 163,000 shareholders. In addition to its petroleum marketing interests, Gulf was a major producer of petrochemicals, plastics, and agricultural chemicals. Through its subsidiary, Gulf General Atomic Inc., it was also active in the nuclear energy sector. Gulf abandoned its involvement in the nuclear sector after a failed deal to build atomic power plants in Romania in the mid-1970s.
In 1974, the Kuwait National Assembly took a 60 percent stake in the equity of KOC with the remaining 40 percent divided equally between BP and Gulf. The Kuwaitis took over the rest of the equity in 1975, giving them full ownership of KOC. This meant that Gulf (EH) had to start supplying its downstream operations in Europe with crude bought on the world market at commercial prices. The whole GOC(EH) edifice now became highly marginal in an economic sense. Many of the marketing companies that Gulf had established in Europe were never truly viable on a stand-alone basis.
Gulf was at the forefront of various projects in the late 1960s intended to adjust the world oil industry to developments of the time including closure of the Suez Canal after the 1967 war. In particular, Gulf undertook the construction of deep water terminals at Bantry Bay
in Ireland and Okinawa in Japan capable of handling Ultra Large Crude Carrier (ULCC) vessels serving the European and Asian markets respectively. In 1968, the Universe Ireland was added to Gulf's tanker fleet. At , this was the largest vessel in the world and incapable of berthing at most normal ports.
Gulf also participated in a partnership with other majors, including Texaco
, to build the Pembroke Catalytic Cracker refinery at Milford Haven and the associated Mainline Pipelines fuel distribution network. The eventual reopening of the Suez canal and upgrading of the older European oil terminals (Europoort and Marchwood) meant that the financial return from these projects was not all that had been hoped for. The Bantry terminal was devastated by the explosion of a Total tanker, the Betelgeuse, in January 1979 (the Betelgeuse incident) and it was never fully reopened. The Irish government took over ownership of the terminal in 1986 and held its strategic oil reserve there.
In the 1970s, Gulf participated in the development of new oilfields in the UK North Sea and in Cabinda
, although these were high-cost operations that never compensated for the loss of Gulf's interest in Kuwait. A mercenary army had to be raised to protect the oil installations in Cabinda during the Angolan civil war. The Angolan connection was another "special relationship" that attracted comment. In the late 1970s, Gulf was effectively funding a Soviet bloc regime in Africa while the US government was attempting to overthrow that regime by supporting the UNITA
rebels led by Jonas Savimbi
.
In 1975, several senior Gulf executives, including Chairman Bob Dorsey, were implicated in the making of illegal "political contributions" and were forced to step down from their positions. This loss of senior personnel at a critical time in Gulf's fortunes may have had a bearing on the events that followed.
Gulf's operations worldwide were struggling financially in the recession of the early 1980s, so Gulf's management devised the "Big Jobber
" strategic realignment in 1981 (along with a program of selective divestments) to maintain viability. The Big Jobber strategy recognized that the day of the integrated, multi-national oil major might be over, since it involved concentrating on those parts of the supply chain where Gulf had a competitive advantage.
construct two modified biplanes, cleaned-up versions of the Grumman F3F
Navy fighter, for promotional use by the company. Wearing Gulf Oil company colors and logos, the Grumman G-22 "Gulfhawk II", registered NR1050, was delivered in December 1936, and in 1938 Maj. Williams flew it on a tour of Europe. A second scavenger pump and five drain lines were added to the engine installation that allowed the aircraft to be flown inverted for up to thirty minutes. This aircraft is now preserved in the National Air and Space Museum
in Washington, D.C. A second airplane, the Grumman G-32 "Gulfhawk III", registered NC1051, was delivered on 6 May 1938. Impressed by the Army Air Force in November 1942 for use as a VIP transport and designated a UC-103, it crashed in the southern Florida Everglades in early 1943.
Gulf Oil was the primary sponsor for NBC News
special events coverage in the 1960s, notably for coverage of the U.S. space program. The company used the connection to its advantage by offering giveaway or promotional items at its stations, including sticker sheets of space mission logos, a paper punch-out lunar module model kit, and a book titled "We Came In Peace," containing pictures of the Apollo 11
moon landing. Gulf was also a major sponsor of Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color, which also aired on NBC. Disney magazines and activity books were often given away with a gas fill-up. Gulf was also noted for its "Tourgide" road maps.
One particularly memorable Gulf advertisement carried by NBC during their coverage of the Apollo missions showed aerial and onboard views of the Universe Ireland with Tommy Makem
and the Clancy Brothers singing "Bringin' Home the Oil
" - a tribute to the opening of Gulf's operations in Bantry Bay
.
Gulf Oil was most synonymous for its association with auto racing
, as it famously sponsored the John Wyer Automotive team in the 1960s and early '70s. The signature light blue and orange color scheme associated with its Ford GT40
and Porsche 917
is one of the most famous corporate racing colors and has been replicated by other racing teams sponsored by Gulf. Much of its popularity is attributed to the fact that in the 1971 film Le Mans
, Steve McQueen's character, Michael Delaney, drives for the Gulf team. As a result of McQueen's increasing popularity following his death and the increasing popularity of the Heuer Monaco
which he wore at the film, TAG Heuer
released a limited edition of the watch with the Gulf logo and trademark color scheme. In the same era, Gulf Oil also sponsored Team McLaren during the Bruce McLaren
days, which used a papaya orange color scheme with Gulf blue for lettering.
From 1963 to 1980, Gulf Oil had a formal agreement with Holiday Inn
, the world's largest lodging chain, for which Holiday Inns in the U.S. and Canada would accept Gulf credit cards for food and lodging. In return, Gulf placed service stations on the premises of many Holiday Inn properties along major U.S. highways to provide one-stop availability for gasoline, auto service, food and lodging. Many older Holiday Inns still have those original Gulf stations on their properties, some in operation and some closed, but few operate today as Gulf stations.
Gulf No-Nox gasoline was promoted with a bucking horse leaving an imprint of two horseshoes. Several promotions centered around the two horseshoes. In 1966 bright orange 3-D plastic self-adhesive horseshoes for your bumper were given away. Another popular giveaway was during the 1968 election season, gold horseshoe lapel pins featuring either a Democratic
donkey or a Republican
elephant.
ers, although a corporation in the top 100 of the Fortune 500 was in the early 1980s thought immune to takeover risk.
Its undoing as an independent company began in 1982 when T. Boone Pickens, an Amarillo, Texas
oilman and corporate raid
er (or greenmail
er), and owner of Mesa Petroleum made an offer for the comparatively larger (but still considered "non-major" oil company) Cities Service Company
(more generally known by the name Citgo
) from Tulsa, Oklahoma
which was then trading in the low 20s. Pickens first privately offered $45 a share for a friendly takeover and then later made a $50 a share public offer when Cities' CEO rejected the friendly offer. Gulf forestalled Mesa's takeover attempt by offering $63 a share in a friendly offer which Cities (by then trading at $37) accepted. Cities then bought out Pickens for $55 a share. Once Pickens was gone Gulf reneged on its buyout offer supposedly over a dispute regarding accuracy of Cities Services' reserves and the stock price of Cities plunged triggering stockholder lawsuits as well as distrust for Gulf's management on Wall Street and among financing investment banks who bet big in assisting Gulf defeat Mesa only to be left broke when Gulf backed out. Cities Services was ultimately sold to Occidental Petroleum
, and the retail operations were resold to Southland Corporation
, the operators of 7-Eleven
stores. Gulf's termination of the Cities Service acquisition resulted in more than 15 years of shareholder litigation against Gulf (and later Chevron).
With declining margins in the industry and left without Citgo's reserves Mesa and its investor partners kept hunting for a takeover target, only to discover while fighting Gulf for Citgo how increasingly top-heavy it's portfolio and declining reserves were undervaluing its overall assets. They subtly but quickly acquired 4.9 percent of Gulf Oil's stock by early fall 1983, just shy of having to declare themselves and their intent at 5 percent to the SEC. In the ten days allowed to prepared the SEC filing Mesa and its investor partners accelerated buying to 11 percent of the company's stock, larger than the founding Mellon family by October 1983. Gulf responded to Mesa's interest by calling a shareholders meeting for late November 1983 and subsequently engaged in a proxy war on changing the corporations by-laws to minimize arbitrage
. Pickens made loud criticisms of the existing Gulf management and offered an alternative business plan intended to release shareholder value through a royalty trust
that management argued would "slim down" of the Gulf's market share. Pickens had acquired the reputation of being a corporate raider whose skill lay in making profits out of bidding for companies but without actually acquiring them. During the early 1980s alone, he made failed bids for Cities Services, General American Oil, Gulf, Phillips Petroleum
and Unocal. The process of making such bids would promote a frenzy of asset divestiture and debt reduction in the target companies. This is a standard defensive tactic calculated to boost the current share price, although possibly at the expense of long term strategic advantage. The target shares would rise sharply in price, at which point Pickens would dispose of his interest at a substantial profit.
Gulf management and directors took the view that the Mesa bid represented an undervaluation of the Gulf business as a long-term going concern and that it was not in the interest of Gulf shareholders. James Lee the Gulf CEO and Chairman even claimed during the November 1983 shareholders meeting to address the Mesa ownership that Pickens royalty trust
idea was nothing more than a "Get-rich-quick scheme
" that would undermine the corporations profit potential in the coming decades. Gulf, therefore, sought to resist Pickens by various means, including refiling as a "Delaware Corporation", voiding the ability of shareholders to cumulatively vote (a fear that Pickens would use his shares to gain control of the board) and listening to offers from Ashland Oil (which would double Gulf's price from its pre-Mesa level), General Electric
(two years before it would shock the financial world by taking over the media company NBC/RKO) and finally Chevron to act as its white knight
in late 1984. Gulf divested many of its worldwide operating subsidiaries and then merged with Chevron by the spring of 1985. The Mesa group of investors was reported to have made a profit of $760 million when it assigned its Gulf shares to Chevron. Pickens has claimed that after realizing a more than doubling of stock appreciation for Gulf shareholders (as well as its management that fought him at every turn) Mesa's shares were the last to be paid out by Chevron.
The forced merger of Gulf and Chevron was a controversy that was widely debated, with the U.S. Senate considering legislation to freeze oil industry mergers for a year--before the Reagan administration made it known it opposed government intervention in the matter and would veto any bill. However Pickens and Lee (Gulf's CEO) were summoned to testify before the Senate months before the merger was hammered out and the matter was referred to the Federal Trade Commission
(FTC). The FTC only approved the deal subject to strict conditions. Never before had a "small operator" successfully taken apart a Fortune 500
corporation, or in Gulf's case a "Fortune 10" corporation. The merger sent even deeper shockwaves through the long time exclusive "Seven Sisters" club of major integrated oil companies that defined themselves as elevated from the "non-major independents". A board member of Exxon
even admitted in the mid-1980s that "mostly all we talk about in board meetings anymore is T. Boone Pickens". Chevron, to settle with the government antitrust requirements, sold some Gulf stations and a refinery in the eastern United States to British Petroleum
(BP) and Cumberland Farms
in 1985 as well as some of the international operations. It also donated the once industry leading Gulf Labs in suburban north Pittsburgh to the University of Pittsburgh
to be used as a research business incubator
along with $5 million in maintenance and seed money. The "Gulf Labs" research complex consisted of 55 multi-story buildings with 800000 square feet (74,322.4 m²) on 85 acres (343,983.1 m²) and including several chemical labs, petroleum production and refining areas and even a nuclear laboratory complete with reactor in 1985 and employed close to 2,000 engineers and scientists operating with a $100 million budget from Gulf/Chevron. After its donation it was renamed the University of Pittsburgh Applied Research Center
or U-PARC and opened to small technology, computer and engineering firms as well as graduate level research.
of Framingham, which owns a two-thirds interest in GOLP. In addition there are some independently owned franchise
s still operating under the Gulf brand within North America, such as the American Refining Group, which is licensed by Chevron to blend and distribute Gulf-branded lubricants.
Gulf Oil International (GOI): http://www.gulfoilltd.com/ owns the rights to the Gulf brand outside the United States, Spain & Portugal. It is owned by the Hinduja Group
. GOI trades mainly in lubricants, oils, and greases. GOI is also involved in franchising the Gulf brand to operators in the petroleum and automotive sectors; Gulf-branded filling stations can be found in several countries including the UK, Belgium, Germany, Ireland, the Slovak & Czech Republics, the Netherlands, Jordan, Finland and Turkey. GOI has direct and indirect interests in a number of businesses that use the Gulf brand under license.
The Canadian exploration and production arm of Gulf Oil continued as an independent oil company (Gulf Canada Resources) until its acquisition by Conoco
in 2002.
Most Gulf downstream operations in Europe were sold to the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation
in early 1983. The associated Gulf filling stations were converted to trade under the Q8 brand by 1988. However, attempts to sell Gulf Oil (Great Britain) to KPC failed because of irrevocable GOC guarantees given earlier in regard to bonds issued to finance the construction of refinery facilities in the UK. GO(GB) was taken over by Chevron and its stations continued to use the Gulf brand name and insignia until 1997 when the network was sold to Shell, although by this stage a fairly large proportion of Gulf stations were supplied by jobbers rather than Gulf Oil (GB). Gulf completely withdrew from the UK in 1997. This represented the end of the last major "downstream" use of the Gulf brand by Chevron.
GOI licenses the Gulf brand and logo in the UK to the Bayford group, one of the largest independent fuel distributors. Starting in 2001, a new Gulf network of independent stations is slowly reappearing across the UK. At present, many of these stations are notable for offering genuine leaded four-star petrol, for which Bayford has a special dispensation to sell. At the same time, Gulf Lubricants (UK) Ltd was set up to market Gulf products (mostly manufactured by the Gulf Netherlands operation) in the UK. This return by Gulf to the UK after a four-year absence used the slogan "The Return of the Legend." The post-2001 Gulf presence in the UK is a wholly network-based operation. It involves almost no direct Gulf investment in fixed assets, corporate infrastructure, or manufacturing capability. This is a complete contrast to the pre-1997 presence.
In January 2010, after using the name since 1986, GOLP acquired all right, title and interest in the Gulf brand name in the United States and announced plans to expand the use of the Gulf brand beyond its parent company's Northeastern United States
base. Its promotions have included sponsorship of major sporting events in the area with advertisements for Gulf in New York City
, Boston
, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh
. To take one case as an illustrative example of the Gulf revival, after Texaco
's 2001 merger with Chevron, many former Texaco stations in Pittsburgh switched to Gulf since Chevron does not service the Greater Pittsburgh area. As a result, the Texaco brand name disappeared from the area in June 2004 when the nonexclusive rights agreement with Shell
expired, with Shell itself expanding in the area by means other than Texaco but, on June, 2006 Chevron
gave exclusive rights to the Texaco brand name in the U.S. and sold some BP
gas stations in the southeast which were Gulf gas stations. In New England, former Exxon
stations have been rebranded as Gulf, in accordance with the consent decree that allowed the merger of Exxon and Mobil
. Many of the former Exxon stations feature a rectangular logo that fit into the existing sign standards used by Exxon. Gulf refers to the look as its "sunrise" imaging.
The Gulf logo is still used around the world by a large number of business interests. It is a widely recognized brand and many independent operators are willing to pay for the franchise rights to use it. GOI make use of this brand power by coordinating their marketing activities to focus on the sponsorship of Le Mans race teams (with the current team being Aston Martin Racing team) This sponsorship is used across the world by Gulf distributors, alongside local activity demonstrating the GOI company ethos of "your local global brand". In 2009, the clothing store chain Old Navy
began selling T-shirts bearing the old Gulf logo, along with the former logos of Standard Oil and Chevron.
Between 1980 and 2000, Gulf moved from being a monolithic, vertically integrated multinational corporation to being more of a network of allied business interests. This has given the entire Gulf enterprise a high degree of strategic and operational flexibility. It is a move that reflects fundamental change in the economics of international business.
The Gulf brand in the UK is franchised by GOI to the Bayford group which specializes in operating service stations on minor trunk roads in rural areas. Bayford supplies about 185 Gulf-branded filling stations in the UK, all of which are independently owned. The Gulf filling stations provide outlets for Gulf-branded oils and lubricants.
The illustration shows a typical Bayford/Gulf filling station in the UK, still associated with a service garage, restaurant and retailing facilities. It is in an isolated location, five miles (8 km) south of Wooler in the Cheviot Hills, catering to both local residents and passing tourist traffic. It is not vulnerable to competition from supermarkets and provides something of a local community center.
toll highway system alongside the Howard Johnson's
restaurants at the Turnpike's travel plazas (which correspond to European motorway service areas). This began in 1950 with the opening of the Philadelphia Extension, and Gulf added more filling stations as the system was extended. The Standard Oil Company of Pennsylvania (now part of Exxon
) had exclusive rights to provide filling station services on the sections of the system that opened prior to 1950, principally the Irwin
-to-Carlisle
section.
In the 1980s, Sunoco
was awarded the franchise to operate the filling stations at the Sideling Hill and now-closed Hempfield travel plazas. This led to a bidding war among three of Pennsylvania
's most recognizable gasoline brands each time a travel plaza franchise came up for renewal.
Gulf had the opportunity to become the exclusive provider of filling stations at travel plazas along the Pennsylvania Turnpike after Exxon withdrew from the Turnpike in 1990. Cumberland Farms (owner of the Gulf brand in the northeast U.S.) was awarded a new contract with the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission
, but the contract was sold to Sunoco two years later as part of the company's bankruptcy proceedings. In June 1992, all of the former Gulf filling stations on the Turnpike (as with the Exxon ones before it) converted to Sunoco. All of the travel plazas continue to sell Sunoco fuel today.
, and diesel. Although these products lack any real brand differentiation, this has not always been the case. Until well into the 1970s, Gulf (in common with other oil companies) sold distinctive brands of petrol/gasoline including subregular Gulftane, Good Gulf regular, Gulf No-Nox premium, and Gulf Super Unleaded. Gulf petrol was sold using the slogans "Good Gulf Gasoline," and "Gulf — the Gas with Guts." Gulf service stations often supplied customers with pens and key rings bearing these slogans. For a few years, beginning in 1966, Gulf stations in the U.S. gave away orange plastic "Extra Kick Horseshoes" to customers who filled their tanks with Gulf's No-Nox premium gasoline (the novelty items were commonly mounted on bumpers).
GOI still produces and sells a wide range of branded oil based products including lubricants and greases of all kinds. These include products for a variety of applications ranging from metal working oils to refrigeration oils. Car engine oils include the Gulf Formula, Gulf MAX, and Gulf TEC ranges. Heavy duty diesel engine lubricants include the Gulf Supreme and Gulf Superfleet ranges.
Petroleum
Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...
company
Corporation
A corporation is created under the laws of a state as a separate legal entity that has privileges and liabilities that are distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business. Early corporations were established by charter...
from the 1900s to the 1980s. The eighth-largest American manufacturing company in 1941 and the ninth-largest in 1979, Gulf Oil was one of the so-called Seven Sisters
Seven Sisters (oil companies)
The "Seven Sisters" was a term coined in the 1950s by businessman Enrico Mattei, then-head of the Italian state oil company Eni, to describe the seven oil companies which formed the "Consortium for Iran" and dominated the global petroleum industry from the mid-1940s to the 1970s...
oil companies. Prior to its merger with Standard Oil of California
Chevron Corporation
Chevron Corporation is an American multinational energy corporation headquartered in San Ramon, California, United States and active in more than 180 countries. It is engaged in every aspect of the oil, gas, and geothermal energy industries, including exploration and production; refining,...
, Gulf was one of the chief instruments of the legendary Mellon family
Mellon family
The Mellon family is a wealthy and influential family originally of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, and its vicinity. In addition to Mellon Bank they were principally known for their control over Gulf Oil, Alcoa, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Koppers, as well as their major influence on...
fortune; both Gulf and Mellon Financial
Mellon Financial
Mellon Financial Corporation, was one of the world's largest money management firms. Based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, it was in the business of institutional and high-net-worth-individual asset management, including the Dreyfus family of mutual funds; business banking; and shareholder and...
had their headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
.
Gulf's former headquarters, originally referred to as "the Gulf Building" (now the Gulf Tower
Gulf Tower
Gulf Tower is one of the major distinctive and recognizable features of downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The tower is named for the Gulf Oil Corporation, which was one of the leading multinational oil companies of its time, consistently ranking among the largest 10 corporations in the country...
office condos), is an art-deco skyscraper
Skyscraper
A skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building of many stories, often designed for office and commercial use. There is no official definition or height above which a building may be classified as a skyscraper...
. The tallest building in Pittsburgh until 1970, when it was eclipsed by the U.S. Steel Tower
U.S. Steel Tower
U.S. Steel Tower, also known as the Steel Building , is the tallest skyscraper in Pittsburgh, the fourth tallest building in Pennsylvania, and the 37th tallest in the United States. Completed in 1970, the tower has 64 floors to and has of leasable space. Its original name was the U.S. Steel...
, it is capped by a step pyramid structure several stories high. Until the late 1970s, the entire top was illuminated, changing color with changes in barometric pressure to provide a weather indicator that could be seen for many miles.
Gulf Oil Corporation (GOC) ceased to exist as an independent company in 1985, when it merged with SOCAL, with both re-branding as Chevron
Chevron Corporation
Chevron Corporation is an American multinational energy corporation headquartered in San Ramon, California, United States and active in more than 180 countries. It is engaged in every aspect of the oil, gas, and geothermal energy industries, including exploration and production; refining,...
. However, the Gulf brand name and a number of the constituent business divisions of GOC survived. Gulf has experienced a significant revival since 1990, emerging as a flexible network of allied business interests based on partnerships, franchises and agencies.
Gulf, in its present incarnation, is a "New Economy
New Economy
The New Economy is a term to describe the result of the transition from a manufacturing-based economy to a service-based economy. This particular use of the term was popular during the Dot-com bubble of the late 1990s...
" business. It employs very few people directly and its assets are mainly in the form of intellectual property
Intellectual property
Intellectual property is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which a set of exclusive rights are recognized—and the corresponding fields of law...
: brand
Brand
The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers."...
s, product specifications and scientific expertise. The rights to the brand in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
are owned by Gulf Oil Limited Partnership
Gulf Oil LP
Gulf Oil LP is a major American oil company formed when Cumberland Farms acquired the naming rights to the Gulf Oil brand from Chevron in the United States in 1986. By 2010, Cumberland acquired all rights to the brand in the US, making it the sole owner and marketer in the country...
(GOLC), which is a wholly owned subsidiary
Subsidiary
A subsidiary company, subsidiary, or daughter company is a company that is completely or partly owned and wholly controlled by another company that owns more than half of the subsidiary's stock. The subsidiary can be a company, corporation, or limited liability company. In some cases it is a...
of Cumberland Farms
Cumberland Farms
Cumberland Farms is a regional chain of convenience stores based in Framingham, Massachusetts, and operating primarily in the eastern United States and Florida. Cumberland Farms operates roughly 600 retail stores, gas stations, and a support system including petroleum and grocery distribution...
and operates over 2,100 service stations and several petroleum terminals; it is headquartered in Framingham, Massachusetts
Framingham, Massachusetts
Framingham is a New England town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 68,318 as of the United States 2010 Census. -History:...
. The corporate vehicle at the center of the Gulf network outside the USA, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
& Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
is GOI, a company owned by the Hinduja Group. The company's focus is primarily in the provision of downstream products and services to a mass market through joint ventures, strategic alliances, licensing agreements, and distribution arrangements. Gulf Oil International has its head office in the City of Westminster
City of Westminster
The City of Westminster is a London borough occupying much of the central area of London, England, including most of the West End. It is located to the west of and adjoining the ancient City of London, directly to the east of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, and its southern boundary...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
1901 to 1982
The business that became Gulf Oil started in 1901 with the discovery of oil at SpindletopSpindletop
Spindletop is a salt dome oil field located in the southern portion of Beaumont, Texas in the United States. The Spindletop dome was derived from the Louann Salt evaporite layer of the Jurassic geologic period. On January 10, 1901, a well at Spindletop struck oil . The new oil field soon produced...
near Beaumont, Texas
Beaumont, Texas
Beaumont is a city in and county seat of Jefferson County, Texas, United States, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city's population was 118,296 at the 2010 census. With Port Arthur and Orange, it forms the Golden Triangle, a major industrial area on the...
. A group of investors came together to promote the development of a modern refinery at nearby Port Arthur
Port Arthur, Texas
-Demographics:As of the 2000 census, there were 57,755 people, 21,839 households, and 14,675 families residing in the city. The population density was 696.5 people per square mile . There were 24,713 housing units at an average density of 298.0 per square mile...
to process the oil. The largest investor was William Larimer Mellon
William Larimer Mellon
William Larimer Mellon, Sr. , sometimes referred to as W. L., was a founder of Gulf Oil.-Biography:Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on June 1, 1868 to James Ross Mellon, eldest son of Judge Thomas Mellon, and Rachel Larimer Mellon, daughter of railroad and land baron William Larimer, Jr...
of the Pittsburgh Mellon banking family. Other investors included many of Mellon's Pennsylvania clients as well as some Texas wildcatters. Mellon Bank and Gulf Oil remained closely associated thereafter. The Gulf Oil Corporation itself was formed in 1907 through the amalgamation of a number of oil businesses, principally the J.M. Guffey Petroleum and Gulf Refining companies of Texas. The name of the company refers to the Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...
where Beaumont lies.
Output from Spindletop
Spindletop
Spindletop is a salt dome oil field located in the southern portion of Beaumont, Texas in the United States. The Spindletop dome was derived from the Louann Salt evaporite layer of the Jurassic geologic period. On January 10, 1901, a well at Spindletop struck oil . The new oil field soon produced...
peaked at around 100000 oilbbl/d just after it was discovered and then started to decline. Later discoveries made 1927 the peak year of Spindletop production, but Spindletop's early decline forced Gulf to seek alternative sources of supply to sustain its substantial investment in refining capacity. This was achieved by constructing the 400-mile (640-km) Glenn Pool pipeline connecting oilfields in Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
with Gulf's refinery at Port Arthur
Port Arthur, Texas
-Demographics:As of the 2000 census, there were 57,755 people, 21,839 households, and 14,675 families residing in the city. The population density was 696.5 people per square mile . There were 24,713 housing units at an average density of 298.0 per square mile...
. The pipeline opened in September 1907. Gulf later built a network of pipelines and refineries in the eastern and southern United States
Southern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
, requiring heavy capital investment. Thus, Gulf Oil provided Mellon Bank with a secure vehicle for investing in the oil sector.
Gulf promoted the concept of branded product sales by selling gasoline
Gasoline
Gasoline , or petrol , is a toxic, translucent, petroleum-derived liquid that is primarily used as a fuel in internal combustion engines. It consists mostly of organic compounds obtained by the fractional distillation of petroleum, enhanced with a variety of additives. Some gasolines also contain...
in containers and from pumps marked with a distinctive orange disc logo. A customer buying Gulf-branded gasoline could be assured of its quality and consistent standard. (In the early 20th century, non branded gasoline in the U.S was often contaminated or of unreliable quality).
Gulf Oil grew steadily in the inter-war years, with its activities mainly confined to the U.S. The company was characterized by its vertically integrated business activities, and was active across the whole spectrum of the oil industry: exploration
Exploration
Exploration is the act of searching or traveling around a terrain for the purpose of discovery of resources or information. Exploration occurs in all non-sessile animal species, including humans...
, production
Extraction of petroleum
The extraction of petroleum is the process by which usable petroleum is extracted and removed from the earth.-Locating the oil field:Geologists use seismic surveys to search for geological structures that may form oil reservoirs...
, transport
Transport
Transport or transportation is the movement of people, cattle, animals and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, rail, road, water, cable, pipeline, and space. The field can be divided into infrastructure, vehicles, and operations...
, refining
Refining
Refining is the process of purification of a substance or a form. The term is usually used of a natural resource that is almost in a usable form, but which is more useful in its pure form. For instance, most types of natural petroleum will burn straight from the ground, but it will burn poorly...
and marketing
Marketing
Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...
. It also involved itself in associated industries such as petrochemicals and automobile component manufacturing. It introduced significant commercial and technical innovations, including the first drive-in service station (1911), complimentary road maps, drilling over water at Ferry Lake
Caddo Lake
Caddo Lake is a lake and wetland located on the border between Texas and Louisiana, in northern Harrison County and southern Marion County in Texas and western Caddo Parish in Louisiana. The lake is named after the Southeastern culture of Native Americans called Caddoans or Caddo, who lived in...
, and the catalytic cracking refining process (Gulf installed the world's first commercial catalytic cracking unit at its Port Arthur, Texas
Port Arthur, Texas
-Demographics:As of the 2000 census, there were 57,755 people, 21,839 households, and 14,675 families residing in the city. The population density was 696.5 people per square mile . There were 24,713 housing units at an average density of 298.0 per square mile...
, refinery complex in 1951). Gulf also established the model for the integrated, international "oil major," which refers to one of a group of very large companies that assumed influential and sensitive positions in the countries in which they operated.
Gulf had extensive exploration and production operations in the Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, and Kuwait
Kuwait
The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the...
. The company played a major role in the early development of oil production in Kuwait, and through the 1950s and '60s apparently enjoyed a "special relationship" with the Kuwaiti government. This special relationship attracted unfavourable attention since it was associated with "political contributions" (see below) and support for anti-democratic politics, as evidenced by papers taken from the body of a Gulf executive killed in the crash of a TWA aircraft at Cairo in 1950.
In 1934, the Kuwait Oil Company was formed as a joint venture by BP and Gulf. Both BP and Gulf held equal shares in the venture. KOC pioneered the exploration for oil in Kuwait
Kuwait
The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the...
during the late 1930s. Oil was discovered at Burgan
Burgan Field
The onshore Burgan Field in the desert of southeastern Kuwait is one of the world's largest and richest oil fields.-Discovery:After its discovery in February, 1938, the USA and UK-owned Kuwait Oil Company began commercial oil production at Burgan in 1946. The oil field is so rich that it is one of...
in 1938 but it was not until 1946 that the first crude oil was shipped. Oil production started from Rawdhatain in 1955 and Minagish in 1959. KOC started gas production in 1964. It was the cheap oil and gas being shipped from Kuwait that formed the economic basis for Gulf’s diverse petroleum sector operations in Europe, the Mediterranean, Africa, and the Indian subcontinent. These last operations were coordinated by Gulf Oil Company, Eastern Hemisphere Ltd (GOCEH) from their offices at 2 Portman Street in London W1.
Gulf expanded on a worldwide basis from the end of the Second World War. The company leveraged its international drilling experience to other areas of the world, and by mid-1943 had established a presence in the oil fields of Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
. Much of the company's retail sales expansion was through the acquisition of privately owned chains of filling stations in various countries, allowing Gulf outlets to sell product (sometimes through 'matching' arrangements) from the oil that it was "lifting" in Canada, the Gulf of Mexico, Kuwait, and Venezuela. Some of these acquisitions were to prove less than resilient in the face of economic and political developments from the 1970s on. Gulf invested heavily in product technology and developed many speciality products, particularly for application in the maritime and aviation engineering sectors. It was particularly noted for its range of lubricants and greases.
Gulf Oil reached the peak of its development around 1970. In that year, the company processed 1.3 Moilbbl of crude daily, held assets worth $6.5 billion, employed 58,000 employees worldwide, and was owned by 163,000 shareholders. In addition to its petroleum marketing interests, Gulf was a major producer of petrochemicals, plastics, and agricultural chemicals. Through its subsidiary, Gulf General Atomic Inc., it was also active in the nuclear energy sector. Gulf abandoned its involvement in the nuclear sector after a failed deal to build atomic power plants in Romania in the mid-1970s.
In 1974, the Kuwait National Assembly took a 60 percent stake in the equity of KOC with the remaining 40 percent divided equally between BP and Gulf. The Kuwaitis took over the rest of the equity in 1975, giving them full ownership of KOC. This meant that Gulf (EH) had to start supplying its downstream operations in Europe with crude bought on the world market at commercial prices. The whole GOC(EH) edifice now became highly marginal in an economic sense. Many of the marketing companies that Gulf had established in Europe were never truly viable on a stand-alone basis.
Gulf was at the forefront of various projects in the late 1960s intended to adjust the world oil industry to developments of the time including closure of the Suez Canal after the 1967 war. In particular, Gulf undertook the construction of deep water terminals at Bantry Bay
Bantry Bay
Bantry Bay is a bay located in County Cork, southwest Ireland. The bay runs approximately from northeast to southwest into the Atlantic Ocean. It is approximately 3-to-4 km wide at the head and wide at the entrance....
in Ireland and Okinawa in Japan capable of handling Ultra Large Crude Carrier (ULCC) vessels serving the European and Asian markets respectively. In 1968, the Universe Ireland was added to Gulf's tanker fleet. At , this was the largest vessel in the world and incapable of berthing at most normal ports.
Gulf also participated in a partnership with other majors, including Texaco
Texaco
Texaco is the name of an American oil retail brand. Its flagship product is its fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owns the Havoline motor oil brand....
, to build the Pembroke Catalytic Cracker refinery at Milford Haven and the associated Mainline Pipelines fuel distribution network. The eventual reopening of the Suez canal and upgrading of the older European oil terminals (Europoort and Marchwood) meant that the financial return from these projects was not all that had been hoped for. The Bantry terminal was devastated by the explosion of a Total tanker, the Betelgeuse, in January 1979 (the Betelgeuse incident) and it was never fully reopened. The Irish government took over ownership of the terminal in 1986 and held its strategic oil reserve there.
In the 1970s, Gulf participated in the development of new oilfields in the UK North Sea and in Cabinda
Cabinda (province)
Cabinda is an exclave and province of Angola, a status that has been disputed by many political organizations in the territory. The capital city is also called Cabinda. The province is divided into four municipalities - Belize, Buco Zau, Cabinda and Cacongo.Modern Cabinda is the result of a fusion...
, although these were high-cost operations that never compensated for the loss of Gulf's interest in Kuwait. A mercenary army had to be raised to protect the oil installations in Cabinda during the Angolan civil war. The Angolan connection was another "special relationship" that attracted comment. In the late 1970s, Gulf was effectively funding a Soviet bloc regime in Africa while the US government was attempting to overthrow that regime by supporting the UNITA
UNITA
The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola is the second-largest political party in Angola. Founded in 1966, UNITA fought with the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola in the Angolan War for Independence and then against the MPLA in the ensuing civil war .The war was one...
rebels led by Jonas Savimbi
Jonas Savimbi
Jonas Malheiro Savimbi was an Angolan political leader. He founded and led UNITA, a movement that first waged a guerrilla war against Portuguese colonial rule, 1966–1974, then confronted the rival MPLA during the decolonization conflict, 1974/75, and after independence in 1975 fought the ruling...
.
In 1975, several senior Gulf executives, including Chairman Bob Dorsey, were implicated in the making of illegal "political contributions" and were forced to step down from their positions. This loss of senior personnel at a critical time in Gulf's fortunes may have had a bearing on the events that followed.
Gulf's operations worldwide were struggling financially in the recession of the early 1980s, so Gulf's management devised the "Big Jobber
Jobber (fuel)
A jobber, or petroleum marketer, is a person or company that purchases quantities of refined fuel from refining companies , either for sale to retailers , or to sell directly to the users of those products...
" strategic realignment in 1981 (along with a program of selective divestments) to maintain viability. The Big Jobber strategy recognized that the day of the integrated, multi-national oil major might be over, since it involved concentrating on those parts of the supply chain where Gulf had a competitive advantage.
Marketing and promotions
In the late 1930s, Gulf's aviation manager, Maj. Alford J. Williams, had the Grumman Aircraft Engineering CorporationGrumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation
The Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, later Grumman Aerospace Corporation, was a leading 20th century U.S. producer of military and civilian aircraft...
construct two modified biplanes, cleaned-up versions of the Grumman F3F
Grumman F3F
|-Popular culture:The F3F was featured as an "experimental fighter" in Warner Bros's Wings of the Navy .The F3F-2 was featured in the 1940 film Flight Command, starring Robert Taylor as a pilot whose work developing instrument landing systems helps his lost squadron return to NAS North...
Navy fighter, for promotional use by the company. Wearing Gulf Oil company colors and logos, the Grumman G-22 "Gulfhawk II", registered NR1050, was delivered in December 1936, and in 1938 Maj. Williams flew it on a tour of Europe. A second scavenger pump and five drain lines were added to the engine installation that allowed the aircraft to be flown inverted for up to thirty minutes. This aircraft is now preserved in the National Air and Space Museum
National Air and Space Museum
The National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution holds the largest collection of historic aircraft and spacecraft in the world. It was established in 1976. Located in Washington, D.C., United States, it is a center for research into the history and science of aviation and...
in Washington, D.C. A second airplane, the Grumman G-32 "Gulfhawk III", registered NC1051, was delivered on 6 May 1938. Impressed by the Army Air Force in November 1942 for use as a VIP transport and designated a UC-103, it crashed in the southern Florida Everglades in early 1943.
Gulf Oil was the primary sponsor for NBC News
NBC News
NBC News is the news division of American television network NBC. It first started broadcasting in February 21, 1940. NBC Nightly News has aired from Studio 3B, located on floors 3 of the NBC Studios is the headquarters of the GE Building forms the centerpiece of 30th Rockefeller Center it is...
special events coverage in the 1960s, notably for coverage of the U.S. space program. The company used the connection to its advantage by offering giveaway or promotional items at its stations, including sticker sheets of space mission logos, a paper punch-out lunar module model kit, and a book titled "We Came In Peace," containing pictures of the Apollo 11
Apollo 11
In early 1969, Bill Anders accepted a job with the National Space Council effective in August 1969 and announced his retirement as an astronaut. At that point Ken Mattingly was moved from the support crew into parallel training with Anders as backup Command Module Pilot in case Apollo 11 was...
moon landing. Gulf was also a major sponsor of Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color, which also aired on NBC. Disney magazines and activity books were often given away with a gas fill-up. Gulf was also noted for its "Tourgide" road maps.
One particularly memorable Gulf advertisement carried by NBC during their coverage of the Apollo missions showed aerial and onboard views of the Universe Ireland with Tommy Makem
Tommy Makem
Thomas "Tommy" Makem was an internationally celebrated Irish folk musician, artist, poet and storyteller. He was best known as a member of The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem. He played the long-necked 5-string banjo, guitar, tin whistle, and bagpipes, and sang in a distinctive baritone...
and the Clancy Brothers singing "Bringin' Home the Oil
Bringin' Home the Oil
Bringin' Home the Oil is an Irish-themed sea shanty written in 1969 by Tommy Makem and the Clancy Brothers as the theme for a two-minute long television commercial for Gulf Oil as part of their sponsorship of NBC News coverage of the US space program and the national political conventions in...
" - a tribute to the opening of Gulf's operations in Bantry Bay
Betelgeuse incident
The Betelgeuse incident, also known as the Betelgeuse or Whiddy Island disaster, occurred on 8 January 1979, at around 1:00 a.m., when the oil tanker Betelgeuse exploded in West Cork, Ireland, at the offshore jetty of the Whiddy Island Oil Terminal, due to the failure of the ship's structure...
.
Gulf Oil was most synonymous for its association with auto racing
Auto racing
Auto racing is a motorsport involving the racing of cars for competition. It is one of the world's most watched televised sports.-The beginning of racing:...
, as it famously sponsored the John Wyer Automotive team in the 1960s and early '70s. The signature light blue and orange color scheme associated with its Ford GT40
Ford GT40
The Ford GT40 was a high performance sports car and winner of the 24 hours of Le Mans four times in a row, from 1966 to 1969...
and Porsche 917
Porsche 917
The Porsche 917 is a racecar that gave Porsche its first overall wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1970 and 1971. Powered by the Type 912 flat-12 engine of 4.5, 4.9, or 5 litres, the 917/30 variant was capable of a 0- time of 2.3 seconds, 0– in 5.3 seconds, and a top speed of over .There are 6...
is one of the most famous corporate racing colors and has been replicated by other racing teams sponsored by Gulf. Much of its popularity is attributed to the fact that in the 1971 film Le Mans
Le Mans (film)
Le Mans is a 1971 action film directed by Lee H. Katzin. Starring Steve McQueen, it features footage from the actual 1970 24 Hours of Le Mans auto race....
, Steve McQueen's character, Michael Delaney, drives for the Gulf team. As a result of McQueen's increasing popularity following his death and the increasing popularity of the Heuer Monaco
TAG Heuer Monaco
The TAG Heuer Monaco is a series of automatic chronograph wristwatch originally introduced by Heuer in 1969 in honour of the Monaco Grand Prix. The Monaco was revolutionary for being the first automatic as well as the first square cased chronograph...
which he wore at the film, TAG Heuer
TAG Heuer
TAG Heuer is a Swiss luxury watchmaker known for its sports watches and chronographs. It is a division of luxury goods company LVMH Moët Hennessy • Louis Vuitton. The company motto is "Swiss Avant-Garde Since 1860"...
released a limited edition of the watch with the Gulf logo and trademark color scheme. In the same era, Gulf Oil also sponsored Team McLaren during the Bruce McLaren
Bruce McLaren
Bruce Leslie McLaren , born in Auckland, New Zealand, was a race-car designer, driver, engineer and inventor....
days, which used a papaya orange color scheme with Gulf blue for lettering.
From 1963 to 1980, Gulf Oil had a formal agreement with Holiday Inn
Holiday Inn
Holiday Inn is a brand of hotels, formally a economy motel chain, forming part of the British InterContinental Hotels Group . It is one of the world's largest hotel chains with 238,440 bedrooms and 1,301 hotels globally. There are currently 5 hotels in the pipeline...
, the world's largest lodging chain, for which Holiday Inns in the U.S. and Canada would accept Gulf credit cards for food and lodging. In return, Gulf placed service stations on the premises of many Holiday Inn properties along major U.S. highways to provide one-stop availability for gasoline, auto service, food and lodging. Many older Holiday Inns still have those original Gulf stations on their properties, some in operation and some closed, but few operate today as Gulf stations.
Gulf No-Nox gasoline was promoted with a bucking horse leaving an imprint of two horseshoes. Several promotions centered around the two horseshoes. In 1966 bright orange 3-D plastic self-adhesive horseshoes for your bumper were given away. Another popular giveaway was during the 1968 election season, gold horseshoe lapel pins featuring either a Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
donkey or a Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
elephant.
Demise
By 1980, Gulf exhibited many of the characteristics of a giant corporation that had lost its way. It had a huge but poorly performing asset portfolio, associated with a depressed share price. The stock market value of Gulf started to drop below the break-up value of its assets. Such a situation was bound to attract the interest of corporate raidCorporate raid
A corporate raid is an American English business term for buying a large interest in a corporation and then using voting rights to enact measures directed at increasing the share value...
ers, although a corporation in the top 100 of the Fortune 500 was in the early 1980s thought immune to takeover risk.
Its undoing as an independent company began in 1982 when T. Boone Pickens, an Amarillo, Texas
Amarillo, Texas
Amarillo is the 14th-largest city, by population, in the state of Texas, the largest in the Texas Panhandle, and the seat of Potter County. A portion of the city extends into Randall County. The population was 190,695 at the 2010 census...
oilman and corporate raid
Corporate raid
A corporate raid is an American English business term for buying a large interest in a corporation and then using voting rights to enact measures directed at increasing the share value...
er (or greenmail
Greenmail
Greenmail or greenmailing is the practice of purchasing enough shares in a firm to threaten a takeover and thereby forcing the target firm to buy those shares back at a premium in order to suspend the takeover....
er), and owner of Mesa Petroleum made an offer for the comparatively larger (but still considered "non-major" oil company) Cities Service Company
Citgo
CITGO Petroleum Corporation is a United States-incorporated, Venezuela-owned refiner, transporter and marketer of transportation fuels, lubricants, petrochemicals and other industrial products. The company is owned by PDV America, Inc., an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Petróleos de...
(more generally known by the name Citgo
Citgo
CITGO Petroleum Corporation is a United States-incorporated, Venezuela-owned refiner, transporter and marketer of transportation fuels, lubricants, petrochemicals and other industrial products. The company is owned by PDV America, Inc., an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Petróleos de...
) from Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 46th-largest city in the United States. With a population of 391,906 as of the 2010 census, it is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with 937,478 residents in the MSA and 988,454 in the CSA. Tulsa's...
which was then trading in the low 20s. Pickens first privately offered $45 a share for a friendly takeover and then later made a $50 a share public offer when Cities' CEO rejected the friendly offer. Gulf forestalled Mesa's takeover attempt by offering $63 a share in a friendly offer which Cities (by then trading at $37) accepted. Cities then bought out Pickens for $55 a share. Once Pickens was gone Gulf reneged on its buyout offer supposedly over a dispute regarding accuracy of Cities Services' reserves and the stock price of Cities plunged triggering stockholder lawsuits as well as distrust for Gulf's management on Wall Street and among financing investment banks who bet big in assisting Gulf defeat Mesa only to be left broke when Gulf backed out. Cities Services was ultimately sold to Occidental Petroleum
Occidental Petroleum
Occidental Petroleum Corporation is a California-based oil and gas exploration and production company with operations in the United States, the Middle East, North Africa, and South America...
, and the retail operations were resold to Southland Corporation
7-Eleven
7-Eleven is part of an international chain of convenience stores, operating under Seven-Eleven Japan Co. Ltd, which in turn is owned by Seven & I Holdings Co...
, the operators of 7-Eleven
7-Eleven
7-Eleven is part of an international chain of convenience stores, operating under Seven-Eleven Japan Co. Ltd, which in turn is owned by Seven & I Holdings Co...
stores. Gulf's termination of the Cities Service acquisition resulted in more than 15 years of shareholder litigation against Gulf (and later Chevron).
With declining margins in the industry and left without Citgo's reserves Mesa and its investor partners kept hunting for a takeover target, only to discover while fighting Gulf for Citgo how increasingly top-heavy it's portfolio and declining reserves were undervaluing its overall assets. They subtly but quickly acquired 4.9 percent of Gulf Oil's stock by early fall 1983, just shy of having to declare themselves and their intent at 5 percent to the SEC. In the ten days allowed to prepared the SEC filing Mesa and its investor partners accelerated buying to 11 percent of the company's stock, larger than the founding Mellon family by October 1983. Gulf responded to Mesa's interest by calling a shareholders meeting for late November 1983 and subsequently engaged in a proxy war on changing the corporations by-laws to minimize arbitrage
Arbitrage
In economics and finance, arbitrage is the practice of taking advantage of a price difference between two or more markets: striking a combination of matching deals that capitalize upon the imbalance, the profit being the difference between the market prices...
. Pickens made loud criticisms of the existing Gulf management and offered an alternative business plan intended to release shareholder value through a royalty trust
Royalty trust
A royalty trust is a type of corporation, mostly in the United States or Canada, usually involved in oil and gas production or mining. However, unlike most corporations, its profits are not taxed at the corporate level provided a certain high percentage of profits are distributed to shareholders...
that management argued would "slim down" of the Gulf's market share. Pickens had acquired the reputation of being a corporate raider whose skill lay in making profits out of bidding for companies but without actually acquiring them. During the early 1980s alone, he made failed bids for Cities Services, General American Oil, Gulf, Phillips Petroleum
Phillips Petroleum
Phillips Petroleum Company was founded in 1917 by L.E. Phillips and Frank Phillips, of Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Their younger brother Waite Phillips was the benefactor of Philmont Scout Ranch....
and Unocal. The process of making such bids would promote a frenzy of asset divestiture and debt reduction in the target companies. This is a standard defensive tactic calculated to boost the current share price, although possibly at the expense of long term strategic advantage. The target shares would rise sharply in price, at which point Pickens would dispose of his interest at a substantial profit.
Gulf management and directors took the view that the Mesa bid represented an undervaluation of the Gulf business as a long-term going concern and that it was not in the interest of Gulf shareholders. James Lee the Gulf CEO and Chairman even claimed during the November 1983 shareholders meeting to address the Mesa ownership that Pickens royalty trust
Royalty trust
A royalty trust is a type of corporation, mostly in the United States or Canada, usually involved in oil and gas production or mining. However, unlike most corporations, its profits are not taxed at the corporate level provided a certain high percentage of profits are distributed to shareholders...
idea was nothing more than a "Get-rich-quick scheme
Get-rich-quick scheme
A get-rich-quick scheme is a plan to acquire high rates of return for a small investment. The term "get rich quick" has been used to describe shady investments since at least the early 1900s....
" that would undermine the corporations profit potential in the coming decades. Gulf, therefore, sought to resist Pickens by various means, including refiling as a "Delaware Corporation", voiding the ability of shareholders to cumulatively vote (a fear that Pickens would use his shares to gain control of the board) and listening to offers from Ashland Oil (which would double Gulf's price from its pre-Mesa level), General Electric
General Electric
General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
(two years before it would shock the financial world by taking over the media company NBC/RKO) and finally Chevron to act as its white knight
White knight (business)
In business, a white knight, or "friendly investor," may be a corporation or a person that intends to help another firm. There are many types of white knights...
in late 1984. Gulf divested many of its worldwide operating subsidiaries and then merged with Chevron by the spring of 1985. The Mesa group of investors was reported to have made a profit of $760 million when it assigned its Gulf shares to Chevron. Pickens has claimed that after realizing a more than doubling of stock appreciation for Gulf shareholders (as well as its management that fought him at every turn) Mesa's shares were the last to be paid out by Chevron.
The forced merger of Gulf and Chevron was a controversy that was widely debated, with the U.S. Senate considering legislation to freeze oil industry mergers for a year--before the Reagan administration made it known it opposed government intervention in the matter and would veto any bill. However Pickens and Lee (Gulf's CEO) were summoned to testify before the Senate months before the merger was hammered out and the matter was referred to the Federal Trade Commission
Federal Trade Commission
The Federal Trade Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, established in 1914 by the Federal Trade Commission Act...
(FTC). The FTC only approved the deal subject to strict conditions. Never before had a "small operator" successfully taken apart a Fortune 500
Fortune 500
The Fortune 500 is an annual list compiled and published by Fortune magazine that ranks the top 500 U.S. closely held and public corporations as ranked by their gross revenue after adjustments made by Fortune to exclude the impact of excise taxes companies collect. The list includes publicly and...
corporation, or in Gulf's case a "Fortune 10" corporation. The merger sent even deeper shockwaves through the long time exclusive "Seven Sisters" club of major integrated oil companies that defined themselves as elevated from the "non-major independents". A board member of Exxon
Exxon
Exxon is a chain of gas stations as well as a brand of motor fuel and related products by ExxonMobil. From 1972 to 1999, Exxon was the corporate name of the company previously known as Standard Oil Company of New Jersey or Jersey Standard....
even admitted in the mid-1980s that "mostly all we talk about in board meetings anymore is T. Boone Pickens". Chevron, to settle with the government antitrust requirements, sold some Gulf stations and a refinery in the eastern United States to British Petroleum
BP
BP p.l.c. is a global oil and gas company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest energy company and fourth-largest company in the world measured by revenues and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors"...
(BP) and Cumberland Farms
Cumberland Farms
Cumberland Farms is a regional chain of convenience stores based in Framingham, Massachusetts, and operating primarily in the eastern United States and Florida. Cumberland Farms operates roughly 600 retail stores, gas stations, and a support system including petroleum and grocery distribution...
in 1985 as well as some of the international operations. It also donated the once industry leading Gulf Labs in suburban north Pittsburgh to the University of Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is a state-related research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as Pittsburgh Academy in 1787 on what was then the American frontier, Pitt is one of the oldest continuously chartered institutions of...
to be used as a research business incubator
Business incubator
Business incubators are programs designed to accelerate the successful development of entrepreneurial companies through an array of business support resources and services, developed and orchestrated by incubator management and offered both in the incubator and through its network of contacts...
along with $5 million in maintenance and seed money. The "Gulf Labs" research complex consisted of 55 multi-story buildings with 800000 square feet (74,322.4 m²) on 85 acres (343,983.1 m²) and including several chemical labs, petroleum production and refining areas and even a nuclear laboratory complete with reactor in 1985 and employed close to 2,000 engineers and scientists operating with a $100 million budget from Gulf/Chevron. After its donation it was renamed the University of Pittsburgh Applied Research Center
University of Pittsburgh Applied Research Center
The University of Pittsburgh Applied Research Center, commonly known as U-PARC, is a one-million-square foot , high-security research park campus of the University of Pittsburgh that is located from Downtown Pittsburgh in Harmar Township, Pennsylvania adjacent to the Route 28 expressway and I-76,...
or U-PARC and opened to small technology, computer and engineering firms as well as graduate level research.
Aftermath
BP, Chevron, Cumberland Farms and other companies that acquired former Gulf operations continued to use the Gulf name through the early 1990s. This caused consumer confusion in the US retail market as the parent companies would not accept each others' credit cards. All former Gulf stations franchised by BP and Chevron in the United States have since been converted to those names. Gulf Oil Limited Partnership (GOLP), based in Framingham, Massachusetts, has bought a license for North American rights to the Gulf brand from Chevron. Chevron still owned the Gulf brand, but was making almost no direct use of it. In January 2010, GOLP bought the entire brand from Chevron and began a nationwide expansion campaign. GOLP operates a distribution network reaching from Maine to Ohio. Most Gulf-branded filling stations in North America are owned by Cumberland FarmsCumberland Farms
Cumberland Farms is a regional chain of convenience stores based in Framingham, Massachusetts, and operating primarily in the eastern United States and Florida. Cumberland Farms operates roughly 600 retail stores, gas stations, and a support system including petroleum and grocery distribution...
of Framingham, which owns a two-thirds interest in GOLP. In addition there are some independently owned franchise
Franchising
Franchising is the practice of using another firm's successful business model. The word 'franchise' is of anglo-French derivation - from franc- meaning free, and is used both as a noun and as a verb....
s still operating under the Gulf brand within North America, such as the American Refining Group, which is licensed by Chevron to blend and distribute Gulf-branded lubricants.
Gulf Oil International (GOI): http://www.gulfoilltd.com/ owns the rights to the Gulf brand outside the United States, Spain & Portugal. It is owned by the Hinduja Group
Hinduja Group
The Hinduja Group is a conglomerate company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It was founded in 1914 by Parmanand Deepchand Hinduja, initially operating in Mumbai, India, and setting up its first international operation in Iran in 1919. The headquarters of the Group moved to Iran where it...
. GOI trades mainly in lubricants, oils, and greases. GOI is also involved in franchising the Gulf brand to operators in the petroleum and automotive sectors; Gulf-branded filling stations can be found in several countries including the UK, Belgium, Germany, Ireland, the Slovak & Czech Republics, the Netherlands, Jordan, Finland and Turkey. GOI has direct and indirect interests in a number of businesses that use the Gulf brand under license.
The Canadian exploration and production arm of Gulf Oil continued as an independent oil company (Gulf Canada Resources) until its acquisition by Conoco
Conoco Inc.
Conoco Inc. was an American oil company founded in 1875 as the Continental Oil and Transportation Company. It is now a brand of gasoline and service station in the United States which belongs to the ConocoPhillips Company...
in 2002.
Most Gulf downstream operations in Europe were sold to the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation
Kuwait Petroleum Corporation
Kuwait Petroleum Corporation is Kuwait's national oil company, headquartered in Kuwait City. It was founded on January 27, 1980 as an umbrella company, integrating KOC, KNPC, KOTC and PIC and effectively placing them under government control....
in early 1983. The associated Gulf filling stations were converted to trade under the Q8 brand by 1988. However, attempts to sell Gulf Oil (Great Britain) to KPC failed because of irrevocable GOC guarantees given earlier in regard to bonds issued to finance the construction of refinery facilities in the UK. GO(GB) was taken over by Chevron and its stations continued to use the Gulf brand name and insignia until 1997 when the network was sold to Shell, although by this stage a fairly large proportion of Gulf stations were supplied by jobbers rather than Gulf Oil (GB). Gulf completely withdrew from the UK in 1997. This represented the end of the last major "downstream" use of the Gulf brand by Chevron.
Revival
GOI and GOLP continue to sell Gulf-branded lubricants worldwide through a network of official licensed companies, joint ventures and wholly owned subsidiary companies. Many of these official Gulf distributors carry out local marketing and sponsorship which help to raise the profile of the brand. Of these wholly owned subsidiaries Gulf Oil Corporation India has raised the market profile of the Gulf brand in the Middle East. GOCL have emerged as one of leading lubricants brands in India and run many marketing sponsorships targeted at the ever-growing youth sector in the country.GOI licenses the Gulf brand and logo in the UK to the Bayford group, one of the largest independent fuel distributors. Starting in 2001, a new Gulf network of independent stations is slowly reappearing across the UK. At present, many of these stations are notable for offering genuine leaded four-star petrol, for which Bayford has a special dispensation to sell. At the same time, Gulf Lubricants (UK) Ltd was set up to market Gulf products (mostly manufactured by the Gulf Netherlands operation) in the UK. This return by Gulf to the UK after a four-year absence used the slogan "The Return of the Legend." The post-2001 Gulf presence in the UK is a wholly network-based operation. It involves almost no direct Gulf investment in fixed assets, corporate infrastructure, or manufacturing capability. This is a complete contrast to the pre-1997 presence.
In January 2010, after using the name since 1986, GOLP acquired all right, title and interest in the Gulf brand name in the United States and announced plans to expand the use of the Gulf brand beyond its parent company's Northeastern United States
Northeastern United States
The Northeastern United States is a region of the United States as defined by the United States Census Bureau.-Composition:The region comprises nine states: the New England states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont; and the Mid-Atlantic states of New...
base. Its promotions have included sponsorship of major sporting events in the area with advertisements for Gulf in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
. To take one case as an illustrative example of the Gulf revival, after Texaco
Texaco
Texaco is the name of an American oil retail brand. Its flagship product is its fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owns the Havoline motor oil brand....
's 2001 merger with Chevron, many former Texaco stations in Pittsburgh switched to Gulf since Chevron does not service the Greater Pittsburgh area. As a result, the Texaco brand name disappeared from the area in June 2004 when the nonexclusive rights agreement with Shell
Shell Oil Company
Shell Oil Company is the United States-based subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell, a multinational oil company of Anglo Dutch origins, which is amongst the largest oil companies in the world. Approximately 22,000 Shell employees are based in the U.S. The head office in the U.S. is in Houston, Texas...
expired, with Shell itself expanding in the area by means other than Texaco but, on June, 2006 Chevron
Chevron Corporation
Chevron Corporation is an American multinational energy corporation headquartered in San Ramon, California, United States and active in more than 180 countries. It is engaged in every aspect of the oil, gas, and geothermal energy industries, including exploration and production; refining,...
gave exclusive rights to the Texaco brand name in the U.S. and sold some BP
BP
BP p.l.c. is a global oil and gas company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest energy company and fourth-largest company in the world measured by revenues and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors"...
gas stations in the southeast which were Gulf gas stations. In New England, former Exxon
Exxon
Exxon is a chain of gas stations as well as a brand of motor fuel and related products by ExxonMobil. From 1972 to 1999, Exxon was the corporate name of the company previously known as Standard Oil Company of New Jersey or Jersey Standard....
stations have been rebranded as Gulf, in accordance with the consent decree that allowed the merger of Exxon and Mobil
Mobil
Mobil, previously known as the Socony-Vacuum Oil Company, was a major American oil company which merged with Exxon in 1999 to form ExxonMobil. Today Mobil continues as a major brand name within the combined company, as well as still being a gas station sometimes paired with their own store or On...
. Many of the former Exxon stations feature a rectangular logo that fit into the existing sign standards used by Exxon. Gulf refers to the look as its "sunrise" imaging.
The Gulf logo is still used around the world by a large number of business interests. It is a widely recognized brand and many independent operators are willing to pay for the franchise rights to use it. GOI make use of this brand power by coordinating their marketing activities to focus on the sponsorship of Le Mans race teams (with the current team being Aston Martin Racing team) This sponsorship is used across the world by Gulf distributors, alongside local activity demonstrating the GOI company ethos of "your local global brand". In 2009, the clothing store chain Old Navy
Old Navy
Old Navy is an American clothing brand as well as a chain of stores owned by Gap, Inc., with corporate operations in San Francisco and San Bruno, California. It is one of the first major corporations to house headquarters in the new Mission Bay district of San Francisco.Gap, Inc. was run by...
began selling T-shirts bearing the old Gulf logo, along with the former logos of Standard Oil and Chevron.
Between 1980 and 2000, Gulf moved from being a monolithic, vertically integrated multinational corporation to being more of a network of allied business interests. This has given the entire Gulf enterprise a high degree of strategic and operational flexibility. It is a move that reflects fundamental change in the economics of international business.
- Alliances represent yet another shift in the organization of economic transactions from organizational hierarchies to networks; from mass to flexible production; from large, vertically integrated organizations to disintegration and horizontal networks of economic units; from "Fordist" to "post-Fordist" companies.
Independent filling stations in the UK
In 1970, there were nearly 25,000 filling stations in the UK, of which 10,000 were 'independents' (typically, privately owned and supplied by a major or jobber while using a brand under license). By the end of 1999, the number of filling stations had dropped to 13,700 and to 9,700 at the end of 2005. In recent years, filling stations have been closing at a rate of 50 per month. Many of the smaller and independent stations have succumbed to competition from out-of-town supermarkets that undercut local enterprises through sheer volume of sales and shared overheads.The Gulf brand in the UK is franchised by GOI to the Bayford group which specializes in operating service stations on minor trunk roads in rural areas. Bayford supplies about 185 Gulf-branded filling stations in the UK, all of which are independently owned. The Gulf filling stations provide outlets for Gulf-branded oils and lubricants.
The illustration shows a typical Bayford/Gulf filling station in the UK, still associated with a service garage, restaurant and retailing facilities. It is in an isolated location, five miles (8 km) south of Wooler in the Cheviot Hills, catering to both local residents and passing tourist traffic. It is not vulnerable to competition from supermarkets and provides something of a local community center.
Pennsylvania Turnpike
For decades, Gulf operated filling stations on the Pennsylvania TurnpikePennsylvania Turnpike
The Pennsylvania Turnpike is a toll highway system operated by the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States. The three sections of the turnpike system total . The main section extends from Ohio to New Jersey and is long...
toll highway system alongside the Howard Johnson's
Howard Johnson's
Howard Johnson's is a chain of hotels and restaurants, located primarily throughout the United States and Canada. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Howard Johnson's was the largest restaurant chain in the United States, with over 1,000 restaurants...
restaurants at the Turnpike's travel plazas (which correspond to European motorway service areas). This began in 1950 with the opening of the Philadelphia Extension, and Gulf added more filling stations as the system was extended. The Standard Oil Company of Pennsylvania (now part of Exxon
Exxon
Exxon is a chain of gas stations as well as a brand of motor fuel and related products by ExxonMobil. From 1972 to 1999, Exxon was the corporate name of the company previously known as Standard Oil Company of New Jersey or Jersey Standard....
) had exclusive rights to provide filling station services on the sections of the system that opened prior to 1950, principally the Irwin
Irwin, Pennsylvania
Irwin is a borough in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, southeast of Pittsburgh. Some of the most extensive bituminous coal deposits in the State are located here. In the past, iron foundries, flour mills, car shops, facing and planing mills, electrical goods, and mirror factories provided...
-to-Carlisle
Carlisle, Pennsylvania
Carlisle is a borough in and the county seat of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The name is traditionally pronounced with emphasis on the second syllable. Carlisle is located within the Cumberland Valley, a highly productive agricultural region. As of the 2010 census, the borough...
section.
In the 1980s, Sunoco
Sunoco
Sunoco Inc. is an American petroleum and petrochemical manufacturer headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, formerly known as Sun Company Inc. and Sun Oil Co. ....
was awarded the franchise to operate the filling stations at the Sideling Hill and now-closed Hempfield travel plazas. This led to a bidding war among three of Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
's most recognizable gasoline brands each time a travel plaza franchise came up for renewal.
Gulf had the opportunity to become the exclusive provider of filling stations at travel plazas along the Pennsylvania Turnpike after Exxon withdrew from the Turnpike in 1990. Cumberland Farms (owner of the Gulf brand in the northeast U.S.) was awarded a new contract with the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission
Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission
The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission was created in 1937 to construct, finance, operate and maintain the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The commission consists of five members. Four members are appointed by the Governor of Pennsylvania. The fifth member is the Pennsylvania Secretary of Transportation.In...
, but the contract was sold to Sunoco two years later as part of the company's bankruptcy proceedings. In June 1992, all of the former Gulf filling stations on the Turnpike (as with the Exxon ones before it) converted to Sunoco. All of the travel plazas continue to sell Sunoco fuel today.
Gulf products
Most filling stations in Europe sell three types of fuel: unleaded, LRPLead Replacement Petrol
Lead Replacement Petrol is a fuel developed to provide an alternative to petrol containing a substance known as tetraethyl lead , a compound of lead in liquid form originally added to petrol to increase its octane rating...
, and diesel. Although these products lack any real brand differentiation, this has not always been the case. Until well into the 1970s, Gulf (in common with other oil companies) sold distinctive brands of petrol/gasoline including subregular Gulftane, Good Gulf regular, Gulf No-Nox premium, and Gulf Super Unleaded. Gulf petrol was sold using the slogans "Good Gulf Gasoline," and "Gulf — the Gas with Guts." Gulf service stations often supplied customers with pens and key rings bearing these slogans. For a few years, beginning in 1966, Gulf stations in the U.S. gave away orange plastic "Extra Kick Horseshoes" to customers who filled their tanks with Gulf's No-Nox premium gasoline (the novelty items were commonly mounted on bumpers).
GOI still produces and sells a wide range of branded oil based products including lubricants and greases of all kinds. These include products for a variety of applications ranging from metal working oils to refrigeration oils. Car engine oils include the Gulf Formula, Gulf MAX, and Gulf TEC ranges. Heavy duty diesel engine lubricants include the Gulf Supreme and Gulf Superfleet ranges.
See also
- Bill NoëlBill NoëlWilliam Douglas Noël, known as Bill Noël , was an independent oilman, industrialist, banker, rancher, philanthropist, and civic leader in Odessa, Texas.-Background:...
- Cumberland FarmsCumberland FarmsCumberland Farms is a regional chain of convenience stores based in Framingham, Massachusetts, and operating primarily in the eastern United States and Florida. Cumberland Farms operates roughly 600 retail stores, gas stations, and a support system including petroleum and grocery distribution...
- Hinduja Group
- 1975 Philadelphia Refinery Fire1975 Philadelphia Refinery FireA refinery owned by Gulf Oil Corporation in Philadelphia, located at Girard Point on the Schuylkill River in South Philadelphia, caught fire on August 17, 1975...
External links
- Gulf Oil Limited Partnership (largely Cumberland Farms owned) website: GOLP
- Gulf Oil International website: GOI
- GOI UK subsidiary: GOUK
- GOI Netherlands subsidiary: GONED
- Gulf Oil Corporation Ltd (was Gulf Oil India) website: GOCL
- Gulf Oil Historical Society: GOHSoc
- Gannon Oils Ltd (provides sales, marketing, technical services and logistics support to Gulf Lubricants (UK) Ltd): http://www.gannonoils.co.uk
- Oil UK (provides sales, marketing, technical services and logistics support to Gulf Lubricants (UK) Ltd): OilUK
- Gulf Oil in Puerto Rico (Caribbean Petroleum Corporation) website: www.gulfpr.com
- Gulf Oil in Australia (Destcomm Industries) website: www.gulfoil-aus.com
- History of the Mellons and Mellon Financial (from which Gulf Oil was managed from 1901 to 1981 as well as having financed the 1984 buyout: Pittsburgh
- Series on Gulf and Mellon's involvement in the oil industry and mid-east oil: http://www.post-gazette.com/businessnews/20030316mideast2.asp
- Graphic on Gulf Oil's discoveries and involvement in the middle east: http://www.post-gazette.com/popup.asp?img=/images2/20030316bizmideastoil.gif
