Conoco

Not to be confused with television production firm Conaco.
Conoco Inc.
Public
Industry Oil and gas
Fate Merged with Phillips Petroleum Company
Successor ConocoPhillips
Phillips 66
Founded 1875 (1875) in Ogden, Utah
Defunct August 30, 2002 (2002-08-30)
Headquarters Houston, Texas, U.S.
Products Petroleum

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 Phillips 66 following the spin-off of ConocoPhillips' downstream assets in May 2012. [1][2]

History

Former Conoco station in Commerce, Oklahoma
Former Conoco station in Colorado.

The Continental Oil and Transportation Company was founded in 1875.[3] Based in Ogden, Utah, the company distributed oil, kerosene, benzene, and other products in the western United States.[4] The main office was later moved to Ponca City, Oklahoma, when in 1929, Marland Oil Company (founded by exploration pioneer E. W. Marland) acquired the Continental Oil Company.[3][5] Marland Oil acquired the assets (subject to liabilities) of Continental Oil Company for a consideration of 2,317,266 shares of stock. At that time, Marland Oil changed its name to Continental Oil Company. The acquisition gave Conoco the red triangle symbol previously used by Marland and would become Conoco's logo from 1930 to 1970, when the now-familiar capsule logo was adopted.

The company ran into early trouble when, shortly after acquisition, it was hit by the Great Crash of October 1929. Conoco became a key supplier to the United States government during World War II.

Conoco offshore oil well drilling platform, Gulf of Mexico, 1955.

Under the leadership of Leonard F. McCollum, Conoco grew from a regional company to a global corporation in the years after World War II. Another rough patch for the company came during the 1970s oil crisis, from which it did not recover until 1981, when Conoco became a subsidiary of former rival DuPont.

In 1981, cash rich and wanting to diversify, Seagram Company Ltd. engineered a takeover of Conoco. Although Seagram acquired a 32.2% stake in Conoco, DuPont was brought in as a white knight by the oil company and entered the bidding war. In the end, Seagram lost out in the Conoco bidding war. In exchange for its stake in Conoco Inc, it became a 24.3% owner of DuPont. By 1995, Seagram was DuPont's largest single shareholder with four seats on the board of directors.

In 1998, DuPont and Conoco parted ways.[6] When the independent Conoco went public in October 1998, under a retooled name, Continental Oil Company, it resulted in the largest IPO in history. Conoco bought what was left of Gulf Oil's Canadian operations in 2002. Conoco merged with Phillips Petroleum Company in 2002 to form ConocoPhillips.

Corporate headquarters

ConocoPhillips headquarters in the Energy Corridor area of Houston, formerly the headquarters of Conoco Inc.

Before the merger, Conoco had its headquarters in what is now the current ConocoPhillips headquarters in the Energy Corridor of Houston; the complex was formerly known as the Conoco Center.[7][8]

The headquarters of Conoco moved to Houston, Texas, in 1949.[3] In 1965, the headquarters moved to Manhattan, New York City. In 1972, the headquarters moved to Stamford, Connecticut; in Stamford Conoco occupied space in the three story High Ridge Park complex.[9] In 1982, DuPont announced that Conoco's headquarters would move from Stamford to Wilmington, Delaware.[10] The move occurred in 1982.[6] Edward G. Jefferson, the chairperson of DuPont, said that the headquarters relocation was to bring the head workforces of DuPont and Conoco together. DuPont also announced that it was closing the Conoco offices in Stamford; the lease in the Stamford complex was originally scheduled to expire in 1992.[9]

Notes

  1. ↑ |url=http://www.conocophillips.com/who-we-are/our-legacy/history/Pages/1990-Present.aspx
  2. ↑ http://www.conoco.com/aboutus/
  3. 1 2 3 "ConocoPhillips Announces Museum Plans For Ponca City and Bartlesville" (Press release). ConocoPhillips. May 13, 2005. Retrieved August 1, 2013.
  4. ↑ "Our History: 1875–1909". ConocoPhilips. Retrieved August 1, 2013.
  5. ↑ "History of ConocoPhillips Canada". ConocoPhilips Canada. Retrieved 2 September 2012.
  6. 1 2 "DuPont, Conoco Splitting." Ponca City News. Monday May 11, 1998. Retrieved on February 3, 2010.
  7. ↑ "Write Conoco!." at the Wayback Machine (archived February 19, 1997) Conoco Inc. February 19, 1997. Retrieved on January 16, 2010.
  8. ↑ "Conoco World Headquarters Address." at the Wayback Machine (archived November 1, 1996) Conoco Inc. November 1, 1996. Retrieved on January 17, 2010.
  9. 1 2 "Conoco Offices to Close." The New York Times at The Spokesman-Review. Sunday November 7, 1982. C10. Google News 48 of 67. Retrieved on February 3, 2010.
  10. ↑ "DU PONT TO MOVE CONOCO'S OFFICES." Philadelphia Enquirer. November 6, 1982. D08. Retrieved on February 3, 2010.

References

External links

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