48 Facts About Gulf Oil

1.

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.

FactSnippet No. 762,152
2.

Gulf Oil Corporation ceased to exist as an independent company in 1985, when it merged with Standard Oil of California, with both re-branding as Chevron in the United States.

FactSnippet No. 762,153
3.

Gulf Oil has experienced a significant revival since 1990, emerging as a flexible network of allied business interests based on partnerships, franchises and agencies.

FactSnippet No. 762,154
4.

Gulf Oil, in its present incarnation, is a "new economy" business.

FactSnippet No. 762,155
5.

Gulf Oil'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 arrangement.

FactSnippet No. 762,156
6.

Business that became Gulf Oil started in 1901 with the discovery of oil at Spindletop near Beaumont, Texas.

FactSnippet No. 762,157
7.

Later discoveries made 1927 the peak year of Spindletop production, but Spindletop's early decline forced Gulf Oil to seek alternative sources of supply to sustain its substantial investment in refining capacity.

FactSnippet No. 762,158
8.

Gulf Oil later built a network of pipelines and refineries in the eastern and southern United States, requiring heavy capital investment.

FactSnippet No. 762,159
9.

Gulf Oil promoted the concept of branded product sales by selling gasoline in containers and from pumps marked with a distinctive orange disc logo.

FactSnippet No. 762,160
10.

Gulf Oil grew steadily in the inter-war years, with its activities mainly confined to the United States.

FactSnippet No. 762,161
11.

Gulf Oil 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.

FactSnippet No. 762,162
12.

However, during a period of over-capacity, Gulf Oil was more interested in holding the reserve than developing it.

FactSnippet No. 762,163
13.

In 1936 Gulf Oil sold Barco to the Texas Corporation, now Texaco, and they would eventually all merge as Chevron.

FactSnippet No. 762,164
14.

Gulf Oil had extensive exploration and production operations in the Gulf Oil of Mexico, Canada, and Kuwait.

FactSnippet No. 762,165
15.

Gulf Oil 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.

FactSnippet No. 762,166
16.

In 1934, the Kuwait Oil Company was formed as a joint venture by British Petroleum, then called the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, and Gulf.

FactSnippet No. 762,167
17.

Gulf Oil was discovered at Burgan in 1938 but it was not until 1946 that the first crude oil was shipped.

FactSnippet No. 762,168
18.

Gulf Oil production started from Rawdhatain in 1955 and Minagish in 1959.

FactSnippet No. 762,169
19.

Gulf Oil expanded on a worldwide basis from the end of the Second World War.

FactSnippet No. 762,170
20.

Gulf Oil invested heavily in product technology and developed many specialty products, particularly for application in the maritime and aviation engineering sectors.

FactSnippet No. 762,171
21.

Gulf Oil abandoned its involvement in the nuclear sector after a failed deal to build atomic power plants in Romania in the mid-1970s.

FactSnippet No. 762,172
22.

Many of the marketing companies that Gulf Oil had established in Europe were never truly viable on a stand-alone basis.

FactSnippet No. 762,173
23.

In particular, Gulf Oil undertook the construction of deep water terminals at Bantry Bay in Ireland and Okinawa in Japan capable of handling Ultra Large Crude Carrier vessels serving the European and Asian markets respectively.

FactSnippet No. 762,174
24.

Gulf Oil 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.

FactSnippet No. 762,175
25.

In 1975, several senior Gulf Oil executives, including chairman Bob Dorsey, were implicated in the making of illegal "political contributions" and were forced to step down from their positions.

FactSnippet No. 762,176
26.

Gulf Oil was the primary sponsor for NBC News special events coverage in the 1960s, notably for coverage of the U S space program.

FactSnippet No. 762,177
27.

Gulf Oil 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.

FactSnippet No. 762,178
28.

Gulf Oil was a major sponsor of Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color, which aired on NBC.

FactSnippet No. 762,179
29.

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.

FactSnippet No. 762,180
30.

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.

FactSnippet No. 762,181
31.

In July 2020, Gulf Oil Limited announced a multi-year strategic partnership with McLaren.

FactSnippet No. 762,182
32.

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.

FactSnippet No. 762,183
33.

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.

FactSnippet No. 762,184
34.

The stock market value of Gulf Oil started to drop below the break-up value of its assets.

FactSnippet No. 762,185
35.

Gulf Oil forestalled Mesa's takeover attempt by offering $63 a share in a friendly offer which Cities accepted.

FactSnippet No. 762,186
36.

Gulf Oil responded to Mesa's interest by calling a shareholders' meeting for late November 1983 and subsequently engaged in a proxy war on changing the corporation's by-laws to minimize arbitrage.

FactSnippet No. 762,187
37.

Gulf Oil divested many of its worldwide operating subsidiaries and then merged with Chevron by the spring of 1985.

FactSnippet No. 762,188
38.

BP, Chevron, Cumberland Farms and other companies that acquired former Gulf Oil operations continued to use the Gulf Oil name through the early 1990s.

FactSnippet No. 762,189
39.

The associated Gulf Oil filling stations were converted to trade under the Q8 brand by 1988.

FactSnippet No. 762,190
40.

GOI and GOLP continue to sell Gulf Oil-branded lubricants worldwide through a network of official licensed companies, joint ventures and wholly owned subsidiary companies.

FactSnippet No. 762,191
41.

Many of these official Gulf Oil distributors carry out local marketing and sponsorship which help to raise the profile of the brand.

FactSnippet No. 762,192
42.

The post-2001 Gulf Oil presence in the UK is a wholly network-based operation.

FactSnippet No. 762,193
43.

Gulf Oil logo is still used around the world by various businesses.

FactSnippet No. 762,194
44.

Between 1980 and 2000, Gulf Oil moved from being a monolithic, vertically integrated multinational corporation to being more of a network of allied business interests.

FactSnippet No. 762,195
45.

In March 2016, Gulf MX announced that they will put their own filling stations in Mexico, which is planned to begin operations in July of the same year to compete with the local company .

FactSnippet No. 762,196
46.

Decades, Gulf Oil operated filling stations on the Pennsylvania Turnpike toll highway system alongside the Howard Johnson's restaurants at the Turnpike's travel plazas .

FactSnippet No. 762,197
47.

Gulf Oil 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.

FactSnippet No. 762,198
48.

In June 1992, all of the former Gulf Oil filling stations on the Turnpike converted to Sunoco.

FactSnippet No. 762,199