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| Industry | petroleum |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1955 in Santa Monica, California |
| Fate | Merged with Phillips Petroleum (ConocoPhillips) |
| Headquarters | |
Tosco (The Oil Shale COrporation) was an independent US based petroleum refining and marketing corporation based in Stamford, Connecticut. It was founded in 1955 in Santa Monica, California by A&P heir Huntington Hartford, and originally focused on extracting oil from oil shale and developing alternative energy sources.
In 1964 Tosco, Standard Oil of Ohio, and Cleveland Cliffs Iron Company formed Colony Development, a joint venture company to develop the Colony Oil Shale Project in Colorado and to commercialize the TOSCO II technology. In 1969, ARCO joined the project. The project was ended in April 1972. [1]
In 1976 the company name was shortened to Tosco after the company acquired the Avon Refinery in Martinez, California, and other west coast facilities from Phillips Petroleum, making it a major player in petroleum refining. The company continued its efforts in oil shale extraction until May 2, 1982 when Exxon (which had bought Atlantic Richfield's 60% share in the project in 1980) pulled out of the Colony Project joint venture, leaving Tosco unable to keep the venture viable in spite of a $1.1 million loan guarantee from the U.S. government. Exxon claimed the project's projected $6 billion price tag made the project no longer feasible, but Exxon was required to purchase Tosco's 40% share in the project as a result of their withdrawal. [2]
A major company reorganization followed in 1983. Several takeover bids during the 1980s failed to materialize, and another major reorganization took place in 1991 with the company moving its headquarters to Stamford, Connecticut. [3]
In 1996, Tosco acquired the Circle K chain of convenience stores. In 1997, Tosco bought the rights to the Union 76 brand of gas stations and the western United States refining and marketing operations from Unocal. [4] Tosco merged with Phillips Petroleum in 2001. [5] Phillips merged with Conoco in 2002 to become ConocoPhillips, who spun off the Circle K stores to Canadian-based Alimentation Couche-Tard.
On February 23, 1999, four workers at the Avon Refinery in Concord were burned to death after they tried to replace a leaky oil pipe. The San Francisco Chronicle reported [6] that one Tosco employee, Anthony Creggett, claimed shortly after the fire that plant managers had refused a request by four workers to shut down the high-temperature distillation tower during the repairs on the pipe.
In spring 2001, local gas prices spiked after a fire at a Tosco plant in Carson, California, south of Los Angeles, that released toxic smoke visible 90 miles away. [7]
Sunoco LP is an American master limited partnership organized under Delaware state laws and headquartered in Dallas, Texas, that is a wholesale distributor of motor fuels. It distributes fuel to more than 7,300 Sunoco-branded gas stations, almost all of which are owned and operated by third parties. The partnership is controlled by Energy Transfer Partners.
Union Oil Company of California, and its holding company Unocal Corporation, together known as Unocal was a major petroleum explorer and marketer in the late 19th century, through the 20th century, and into the early 21st century. It was headquartered in El Segundo, California, United States.
ConocoPhillips is an American multinational corporation engaged in hydrocarbon exploration and production. It is based in the Energy Corridor district of Houston, Texas.
76 is a chain of gas stations located within the United States. The 76 brand is owned by Phillips 66. Unocal, the original owner and creator of the 76 brand, merged with Chevron Corporation in 2005.
Marathon Petroleum Corporation is an American petroleum refining, marketing, and transportation company headquartered in Findlay, Ohio. The company was a wholly owned subsidiary of Marathon Oil until a corporate spin-off in 2011.
Phillips Petroleum Company was an American oil company incorporated in 1917 that expanded into petroleum refining, marketing and transportation, natural gas gathering and the chemicals sectors. It was Phillips Petroleum that first found oil in the North Sea on December 23, 1969, at a position that was later named Ekofisk.
The Phillips 66 Company is an American multinational energy company headquartered in Westchase, Houston, Texas. It debuted as an independent energy company when ConocoPhillips executed a spin-off of its downstream and midstream assets. Its name dating back to 1927 as a trademark of the Phillips Petroleum Company, the newly reconfigured Phillips 66 began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on May 1, 2012, under the ticker PSX. The company is engaged in producing natural gas liquids (NGL) and petrochemicals. The company has approximately 14,000 employees worldwide and is active in the United States, Australia, United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.
Bayway Refinery is a refining facility in the Port of New York and New Jersey, owned by Phillips 66. Located in Linden and Elizabeth, New Jersey, and bisected by Morses Creek, it is the northernmost refinery on the East Coast of the United States. The oil refinery converts crude oil into gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel, propane and heating oil. As of 2007, the facility processed approximately 238,000 bbl/d (37,800 m3/d) of crude oil, producing 145,000 bbl/d (23,100 m3/d) of gasoline and 110,000 bbl/d (17,000 m3/d) of distillates. Its products are delivered to East Coast customers via pipeline transport, barges, railcars and tank trucks.
Atlantic Petroleum was an oil company in the Eastern United States headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and a direct descendant of the Standard Oil Trust. It was also one of the companies that merged with Richfield Oil Corporation to form the "AtlanticRichfield Co.", later known as ARCO.
The Wood River Refinery is an oil refinery located in Roxana, Illinois, approximately 15 miles (24 km) north of St. Louis, Missouri, on the east side of the Mississippi River. The refinery is currently owned by Phillips 66 and Cenovus Energy and operated by the joint-venture company WRB Refining, LLC (WRB). WRB was formed on 1 July 2007, with Encana taking a 49% interest in Wood River and also Phillips 66's Borger refinery. Encana subsequently spun off oil sands producer Cenovus and ConocoPhillips spun off Phillips 66. In return for a 49% stake in the refinery, ConocoPhillips gained a joint interest in two Alberta oil sands (bitumen) heavy oil projects: Christina Lake (Alberta) and Foster Creek. ConocoPhillips’ interest was sold to Cenovus in May 2017, leaving Cenovus the sole owner and operator of the assets. Cenovus uses SAGD technology at those sites.
The Humber Refinery is a British oil refinery in South Killingholme, North Lincolnshire. It is situated south of the railway line next to the A160; Total's Lindsey Oil Refinery is north of the railway line.
The National Oil Corporation is the national oil company of Libya. It dominates Libya's oil industry, along with a number of smaller subsidiaries, which combined account for around 70% the country's oil output. Of NOC's subsidiaries, the largest oil producer is the Waha Oil Company (WOC), followed by the Arabian Gulf Oil Company (Agoco), Zueitina Oil Company (ZOC), and Sirte Oil Company (SOC).
Coastal Corporation was a diversified energy and petroleum products company headquartered at 9 Greenway Plaza in Greenway Plaza, Houston, Texas. The company was founded in 1955 by Oscar Wyatt and incorporated in 1955 as Coastal States Gas Producing Company. It merged with the El Paso Corporation in 2001. As of 1999, Coastal was a Fortune 500 company with 13,300 employees and annual revenues of $8.2 billion.
ExxonMobil Corporation is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is the largest direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and was formed on November 30, 1999, by the merger of Exxon and Mobil. ExxonMobil's primary brands are Exxon, Mobil, Esso, and ExxonMobil Chemical, which produces plastic, synthetic rubber, and other chemical products. ExxonMobil is incorporated in New Jersey.
Enco was a secondary retail brand name for products of the Humble Oil Corporation in certain parts of the United States from 1960 to 1977. It was used on service stations operated by Humble in states where they were not permitted to use the Esso brand under conditions set by the court-ordered breakup of Standard Oil in 1911.
Colony Shale Oil Project was an oil shale development project at the Piceance Basin near Parachute Creek, Colorado. The project consisted of an oil shale mine and pilot-scale shale oil plant, which used the TOSCO II retorting technology, developed by Tosco Corporation. Over time the project was developed by a consortium of different companies until it was terminated by Exxon on 2 May 1982 a day which is known amongst locals as "Black Sunday".
The Ferndale Refinery in the northwest United States, owned by Phillips 66, is located in the Cherry Point Industrial Zone, west of Ferndale, Washington. The oil refinery had a capacity of 101,000 barrels per day in 2015, 64th largest in the nation, and it produces predominantly transportation fuels consumed in local markets. Its secondary processing facilities include a fluid catalytic cracker, an alkylation unit, hydotreating units, and a naphtha reformer. The plant follows a 10-5-3-2 crack spread, meaning that for ten barrels of crude feedstock, the refinery produces five barrels of gasoline, three barrels of distillate, and two barrels of fuel oil.
The history of the oil shale industry in the United States goes back to the 1850s; it dates back farther as a major enterprise than the petroleum industry. But although the United States contains the world's largest known resource of oil shale, the US has not been a significant producer of shale oil since 1861. There were three major past attempts to establish an American oil shale industry: the 1850s; in the years during and after World War I; and in the 1970s and early 1980s. Each time, the oil shale industry failed because of competition from cheaper petroleum.
Trainer Refinery is an oil refining facility located in Trainer, Delaware County, Pennsylvania. The facility is about downstream from the Port of Chester and fifteen miles southwest of Philadelphia along the Delaware River. Stoney Creek is along its northern perimeter. The Trainer Refinery is owned by Monroe Energy, LLC, a subsidiary of Delta Air Lines. Monroe Energy acquired the facility in June 2012. Since that time, the company has focused on producing high-quality transportation fuels at the refinery. In addition to jet fuel, the facility also produces gasoline, diesel, and home heating oil.
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