Talk:Gulf Oil

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[edit] Introduction

I am the author of about 60% of the Gulf Oil article. My contribution is mainly based on my memories of working at Gulf's "Eastern Hemisphere" office near Marble Arch, London from 1980 to 1983. Initially it was a bustling office with activity continuing on an international and 24/7 basis. Things changed overnight in January 1983, when a lot of the European operations were sold off to KPC. The place suddenly became like the Marie Celeste . I enjoyed working for Gulf and was sorry to leave at the end of August 1983. Bob

BScar23625 09:59, 1 January 2006 (UTC)

Bob and work colleague (Lorna) outside GOC (Eastern Hemisphere) office in Portman Street, London - April 1981

[edit] Gulf's Comeback

Just so you know, I was the one who put the info about several Pittsburgh-area Texaco stations switching to Gulf a while back. That pretty much doubled the amount of Gulf stations here. I'm not sure if the remaining Texaco stations are switching to Gulf or not (they have until the end of June to do so), since Shell is just barely in the area, but it would help Gulf's case out. (One Texaco in New Brighton, PA switched to Sunoco--as if we needed another Sunoco here--since there was an existing Gulf down the road, but the rest of the Texaco's that have changed here have changed to Gulf.) The only other case I know of Gulf coming back is at one of the many truck stops in Breezewood, PA where Gulf replaced Union 76, but it's been years since I've been out to Breezewood. If you know of any other examples of Gulf's comeback, list them if you want.

I personally think that down the road, GOLP may eventually be bought out again, whether it be by Chevron again (Chevron seems to be buyout-happy right now) or maybe ConocoPhillips to give them a Northeastern brand.

And one more note: my mom went to Tennessee last summer to see my uncle, and she saw a fully-operational Gulf station down there. I don't know how that would be. I'm not sure if Chevron or BP ended up with Gulf in Tennessee, but it couldn't be supplied by them.Jgera5 00:25, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

Jgera5. Thanks for that information, which is very interesting. A couple of months ago I was driving along a minor trunk road in Northumberland, England when I came across a Gulf filling station. I am sure that the station must have been recently rebranded from Thrust. I stopped the car and got out to take a photograph. I will add the photograph to the Gulf article some time.

I hope my constant nervous editing of the article does not discourage you from adding anything. best wishes. Bob BScar23625 06:47, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

ps my outlook is all very Euro-centric, so if you can add anything relating to North America then that will give more balance BScar23625 09:48, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

Just passing through. A reminder re: "branding" of gasoline that in North America, gas is still sold as regular/plus/super, etc. Maybe a comparison of the old UK brands to current US ones would be a helpful point of reference? (If something wholly different was meant by the section, I misunderstood it.)72.70.241.211 16 July 2006

72.70.241.211. I'm not too sure about the current position in the US. But in Europe, there are standard grades of fuel (diesel, LRP and Unleaded being by far the most common). However, most supermarket fuel is unbranded and little fuel marketing nowadays seeks to make given brands distinctive. If you go back a few years, oil companies would often claim that their own branded fuel gave better performance and/or caused less wear on engines than other brands. Nowadays, people seem to accept that 95 octane fuel is just the same, whoever sells it. Bob BScar23625 22:35, 16 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] GA nomination

This is an exceptionally interesting article to read, I'm being very critical because it should really be nominated for Featured Article Status.

I have added ^{[citation needed]} where a statement is POV but with citation will eliminated

The opening claims on size needs to be cited

The Bantry terminal was devastated by the explosion of a Petrofina tanker (the Betelguese) in January 1979 Theres a potential article here. Gnangarra

Completed history section.

to be continued.... sorry ran out of time will be back within 12 hours Gnangarra 02:50, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

Gulf's termination of the Cities Service acquistion resulted in more than 15 years of shareholder litigation against Gulf^{[citation needed]}. story here also more information would be appropriate in the article Gnangarra

During the period 1980 to 2000, Gulf moved from being a monolithic, integrated multinational corporation to being more of a network of allied business interests. This has given the whole Gulf business a high degree of strategic and operational flexibility. - this reads like an opinion piece Gnangarra

The illustration shows a typical Bayford/Gulf service station in the UK. Note that it is associated with garage, restaurant and retailing facilities. It is in an isolated location, being 5 miles south of Wooler in the Cheviot Hills. It caters to both local residents and tourist traffic. It is not vulnerable to competition from supermarkets and provides something of a local community centre. POV - be cautious in tying text to image as the image could be moved, replaced or deleted. suggest that this text is condensed into the image description. Gnangarra

Define jobber having worked for BP(Aust) in their transport/terminal business for I personally understand the jargon but will every reader, suggest a small article to define and explain who and how they operate.

Condense sub section Pennsylvania Turnpike reword to remove POV Gnangarra

redundant statement at the end of article GOI still produces and sells a wide range of oil based products including lubricants and greases of all kinds merge within paragraph above or remove completely Gnangarra 03:41, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

I have failed GA, hopefully the above explains why and what would improve the article. Suggest as I said earlier this article should achieve FA work on what I have suggested then use Peer review for broader input when you have the time nominate for FA. At anytime if what me to revisit, make any suggestions just drop me a message Gnangarra 03:41, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

Gnangarra. Thakyou for your feedback, which is most welcome. I will continue chipping away at the Gulf article whenever I have some free time and will renominate it for Good Article status when your points have been addressed. I was a very minor bit-player in the story for a while and much of the article is based on my recollections rather than published sources. As far as I can recall, "the Betelguese incident" was a catalogue of human and equipment failure which left about 70 people dead. The clean up and salvage operation took about 5 years to complete. Bob BScar23625 07:26, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] GA Promotion

I have recently reviewed this article & found that it meets the criterion for being a good article. So I have promoted it to GA status. My congratulations BScar23625 & all the other contributors for doing a fine job.

Cheers

Srikeit^{(talk ¦ ✉)} 08:06, 1 June 2006 (UTC)

I not sure about which category this article should be listed in as a GA. I have currently listed this under category History & subcategory Americas. If this is incorrect, please correct it. Thanks Srikeit^{(talk ¦ ✉)} 08:10, 1 June 2006 (UTC)

Srikeit. Thankyou for promoting Gulf Oil to Good Article status. I will take a look at the GA categorisation in the next few days. Bob BScar23625 08:16, 1 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Weather Underground Attack

According to their article on Wikipedia, Gulf's HQ was the target of a bombing attack by the Weather Underground terrorists... isn't this notable enough to add to the article? Normally I'd just throw it in there and let the court of public opinion decide if it should stay, but since this article has just been promoted to Good Article and is being considered for Featured Article status, I'm leery of editing it.

Thanks, Tmorrisey 15:55, 5 June 2006 (UTC)

The Weathermen page contains the following statement :

17 June 1974 - Gulf Oil's Pittsburgh headquarters is bombed to protest its actions in Angola, Vietnam, and elsewhere.

I never knew that before. Gulf was funding the Portugese colonial authorities in Angola up to 1975, so I can see why the Weathermen might have launched an attack on Gulf. As to how notable this bombing was in the whole scheme of things, well .... Bob BScar23625 16:40, 5 June 2006 (UTC)

if there enough info then it should be there also check that the page and links back to here as well Gnangarra 08:27, 11 June 2006 (UTC)