Editing Gulf Oil (section)

===1901–1982===
[[File:GULF 1920 logo.svg|thumb|right|Early Gulf logo c. 1920]]
The business that became Gulf Oil started in 1901 with the discovery of oil at [[Spindletop]] oilfield near [[Beaumont, Texas]]. A group of investors came together to promote the development of a modern refinery at nearby [[Port Arthur, Texas|Port Arthur]] to process the oil. The largest investors were [[Andrew Mellon]] and [[William Larimer Mellon Sr.]], of the Pittsburgh [[Mellon family]]. Other investors included many of Mellon's Pennsylvania clients as well as some Texas [[wildcatter]]s. [[Mellon Financial|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 Company, Gulf Pipeline Company, and Gulf Refining companies of Texas.<ref name=jl>{{cite book |last1=Linsley |first1=Judith |last2=Rienstrad |first2=Ellen |last3=Stiles |first3=Jo |title=Giant Under the Hill, A History of the Spindletop Oil Discovery at Beaumont, Texas in 1901 |date=2002 |publisher=Texas State Historical Association |location=Austin |isbn=9780876112366 |pages=186–188}}</ref><ref>Handbook of Texas: [https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/dog02 Early history of Gulf Oil]</ref><ref name=oo>{{cite book |last1=Olien |first1=Diana |last2=Olien |first2=Roger |title=Oil in Texas, The Gusher Age, 1895-1945 |date=2002 |publisher=University of Texas Press |location=Austin |isbn=0292760566 |pages=48}}</ref> The name of the company refers to the [[Gulf of Mexico]] where Beaumont lies.<ref>{{cite book|title=Historical dictionary of the Gulf Arab states|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ePXaUo-dnM4C|author=Peck, Malcolm C.|publisher=Scarecrow Press|edition=Second|date=December 20, 2007|isbn=978-0-8108-5463-5|page=115}}</ref>

[[File:Gulf Gasoline Service station 1922 newspaper.png|thumb|left|150px|1922 newspaper ad for a new Gulf station in [[Philadelphia]]]]
Output from [[Spindletop]] peaked at around {{convert|100000|oilbbl/d|m3/d}} just after it was discovered and then started to decline.<ref>Gulf Oil official 50th anniversary history publication, (1967), p4</ref> Later discoveries made 1927 the peak year of Spindletop production,<ref>Handbook of Texas: [https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/dos03 Spindletop Oilfield]</ref> 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&nbsp;km) [[Glenn Pool Oil Reserve|Glenn Pool]] pipeline connecting oilfields in [[Oklahoma]] with Gulf's refinery at [[Port Arthur, Texas|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.<ref>Handbook of Texas: [https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/dog02 see para 1]</ref>

Gulf promoted the concept of branded product sales by selling fuel in containers and from pumps marked with a distinctive orange disc logo. A customer buying Gulf-branded fuel could be assured of its quality and consistent standard.<ref>Gulfoil Historical Society: [http://www.gulfhistory.org/specs/pumps/index.html early Gulf gas pumps]</ref> (In the early 20th century, non-branded fuel in the United States was often contaminated or of unreliable quality).

Gulf Oil grew steadily in the inter-war years, with its activities mainly confined to the United States. The company was characterized by its vertically integrated business activities and was active across the whole spectrum of the [[Petroleum industry|oil industry]]: exploration, [[Extraction of petroleum|production]], transport, refining and marketing. It also involved itself in associated industries such as [[petrochemical]]s and automobile component manufacturing. It introduced significant commercial and technical innovations, including the first drive-in service station (1913), complimentary road maps, drilling over water at [[Caddo Lake|Ferry Lake]], and the [[Fluid catalytic cracking|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. In 1924, it acquired the Venezuelan-American Creole Syndicate's leases in the strip of shallow water 1.5 kilometers (0.93&nbsp;mi) wide along the [[Lake Maracaibo]] east shore.

In [[Colombia]], Gulf purchased the [[Barco oil concession]] in 1926.<ref>{{cite book |last=Vassiliou |first=M. S.|title=The A to Z of the Petroleum Industry |page=140 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BdNjTbcB__0C&pg=PA139 |access-date=2013-07-24 |date=September 24, 2009 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0-8108-7066-6}}</ref> The government of Colombia revoked the concession the same year, but after much negotiation Gulf won it back in 1931. However, during a period of over-capacity, Gulf was more interested in holding the reserve than developing it.<ref>{{cite book|pages=72–73  |last=Randall|first=Stephen J.|title=United States Foreign Oil Policy Since World War I: for Profits and Security |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3fdbalH7f8oC&pg=PA73|access-date=2013-07-24 |year=2005|publisher=McGill-Queen's Press – MQUP|isbn=978-0-7735-7540-0}}</ref> In 1936 Gulf sold Barco to the Texas Corporation, now [[Texaco]], and they would eventually all merge as Chevron.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=U.S. Business Opens the Great New Barco Oil Fields in Colombia |magazine=LIFE|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8kEEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA15|access-date=2013-07-24 |date=November 13, 1939 |volume=7|issue=20|publisher=Time Inc|page=15 |issn=0024-3019}}</ref>

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.<ref>US Department of State Briefing Paper: [http://dosfan.lib.uic.edu/erc/bgnotes/nea/kuwait9411.html Kuwait, 1994 – see section on Oil] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060507213400/http://dosfan.lib.uic.edu/ERC/bgnotes/nea/kuwait9411.html |date=May 7, 2006 }}</ref> This special relationship attracted unfavorable 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.<ref>GOC memo 1950: [http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB78/propaganda%20009.pdf GOC internal appreciation of the Kuwait government]</ref>

[[File:Gulf Filling Station - NARA - 280901.jpg|thumb|Gulf filling station in [[Jasper, Tennessee]], c. 1939]]
In 1934, the [[Kuwait Oil Company]] (KOC) was formed as a joint venture by [[Anglo-Persian Oil Company]] (APOC) now [[BP]], and Gulf. Both APOC and Gulf held equal shares in the venture.<ref>KOC: [http://www.kuwait-info.com/sidepages/economy_oil_koc.asp history of Gulf involvement in KOC]</ref> KOC pioneered the exploration for oil in Kuwait during the late 1930s. Oil was discovered at [[Burgan field|Burgan]] in 1938, but it was not until 1946 that the first [[Petroleum|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 fuel 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. While serving as General Manager and Vice President of Gulf Oil, [[Willard F. Jones]] facilitated the expansion of crude oil import from [[Kuwait]], a nation that was - at the time - a yet incipient supply region to the United States. This expansion program implemented by Robert E. Garret and Jones consisted of construction of a fleet of supertankers and was meant to "result in a sharp increase in the processing of crude oil and various petroleum products at a time when the domestic demand for (such) products (was) at an unprecedented peak."<ref>{{cite news| title = Gulf Oil Company Will Spend Forty Millions to Expand Philadelphia Plant| pages = 12| newspaper = Times Herald| date = 13 Dec 1948}}</ref>

[[File:Gulf Oil Corp., Alkylation Area (8493448008).jpg|thumb|left|Gulf Oil's [[Port Arthur, Texas]], refinery, [[alkylation]] area, (1956)]]
Gulf expanded on a worldwide basis from the end of the [[World War II|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 eastern oil fields of [[Venezuela]] as  the '''<span class="anchor" id="Mene Grande Oil Company">Mene Grande Oil Company</span>''' (See [[San Tomé, 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 specialty products, particularly for application in the maritime and aviation engineering sectors. It was particularly noted for its range of lubricants and greases.<ref>American Refining Group publicity statement: [http://www.gulflubricants.net 2004]</ref>

[[File:GULF AND ARCO INSTALLATIONS- - NARA - 549978 (restored).jpg|thumb|Gulf and [[ARCO]] tank farms and tanker docks, [[Port of Philadelphia]], 1973]]
Gulf Oil reached the peak of its development around 1970. In that year, the company processed {{convert|1.3|Moilbbl|m3}} of crude daily, held assets worth $6.5&nbsp;billion (${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|6.5|1970|r=2}}}} billion today), employed 58,000 employees worldwide, and was owned by 163,000 shareholders.<ref>Handbook of Texas Online: [https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/dog02 Gulf Oil]</ref> 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.<ref>Handbook of Texas: [https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/dog02 see para 3]</ref> 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.<ref>KOC history: [http://www.kuwait-info.com/sidepages/economy_oil_koc.asp the end of Gulf's involvement in Kuwait]</ref> 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.  In 1976 during the nationalization of Venezuelan oil, the transfer of properties, benefits, equipment of Gulf Oil to [[PDVSA]] was carried out without any setback and with full satisfaction on both parts.

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 [[Six-Day War|1967 war]]. In particular, Gulf undertook the construction of deep-water terminals at [[Bantry Bay]] in Ireland and [[Okinawa Prefecture|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 {{DWT|312,000|long|disp=long}}, this was the largest vessel in the world and incapable of berthing at most normal ports.<ref>Scripophily history vignette: [http://www.scripophily.net/guoilcope.html see para 11] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110525044016/http://www.scripophily.net/guoilcope.html |date=May 25, 2011 }}</ref>

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 M/V ''Betelgeuse'', in January 1979 ([[Whiddy Island disaster]]) and it was never fully reopened. The Irish government took over ownership of the terminal in 1986 and held its strategic oil reserve there.<ref>Byrne O Cleiregh consultants report: [http://www.boc.ie/Refs_255.htm report on Whiddy Island oil terminal]</ref>

In the 1970s, Gulf participated in the development of new oilfields in the UK [[North Sea]] and in [[Cabinda Province|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.<ref>Reformed Theology essay: [http://www.reformed-theology.org/html/books/best_enemy/chapter_11.htm Gulf/Chevron involvement in Angola] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110307023724/http://reformed-theology.org/html/books/best_enemy/chapter_11.htm |date=March 7, 2011 }}</ref> 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]].
[[File:Glp gulf.jpg|thumb|Gulf fuel station operated by Gas Land Petroleum, Inc.]]
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.<ref>Vanderbilt Television News Archive: [http://tvnews.vanderbilt.edu/program.pl?ID=482713 Gulf's Dorsey testifies to Senate Foreign Relations Committee]</ref> This loss of senior personnel at a critical time in Gulf's fortunes may have had a bearing on the events that followed.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=pu4bAAAAIBAJ&pg=7196,3592390|title=The Pittsburgh Press - Google News Archive Search|website=news.google.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=pe4bAAAAIBAJ&pg=3014,3497277|title=The Pittsburgh Press - Google News Archive Search|website=news.google.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ou4bAAAAIBAJ&pg=2931,4645|title=The Pittsburgh Press - Google News Archive Search|website=news.google.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=pO4bAAAAIBAJ&pg=7244,2383241|title=The Pittsburgh Press - Google News Archive Search|website=news.google.com}}</ref>

Gulf's operations worldwide were struggling financially in the recession of the early 1980s, so Gulf's management devised the "Big [[Jobber (fuel)|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.