Early years, 1942–1956
The Gulf Oil Corporation, based in Pittsburgh, began exploration in Western Canada in 1942 through a subsidiary called Gulf Research and Development. On 23 March 1944, Gulf incorporated the Canadian Gulf Oil Company as a Delaware corporation. Canadian Gulf was owned by the American International Fuel and Petroleum Company, which was a Delaware subsidiary of Gulf. Canadian Gulf Oil made several discoveries in the late 1940s and early 1950s including at Pincher Creek in 1948, Fenn-Big Valley in 1950, Westernore in 1952, and Boundary Lake in 1955. The company also made investments in several pipelines including an 8.7 per cent stake in the Interprovincial Pipe Line, 7.1 per cent stake in the Trans-Mountain Pipe Line, 10.3 per cent in the Alberta Gas Trunk Line, and 33 per cent in the Trans-Canada Pipe Line. By the end of 1955, Canadian Gulf's assets included 300 million barrels of oil reserves, three trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves, and nine million acres of land for exploration.[2]
Merged with British American, 1956–1969
The British American Oil Company Limited was founded in Toronto in 1906 by Albert Leroy Ellsworth (1876–1950). Over the ensuing decades it became one of Canada's largest integrated petroleum companies. In the 1940s Gulf Oil began acquiring shares of British American, and by 1956 held the controlling interest of 25.6 per cent. In 1956, Gulf merged its Canadian subsidiary with British American in a deal the gave the illusion of the Canadian company acquiring the American. To merge the companies, British American issued 8.3 million shares (valued at $55.6 million) to the Gulf Oil Corporation, and then used the money to acquire Canadian Gulf Oil. Gulf Oil held a 59.8 per cent stake in the new merged entity. Recent changes to Canadian tax law allowed buyers to access unused tax write-offs of companies they acquired. Canadian Gulf had considerable unused write-offs, and thus British American was able to decrease its income tax by $29.7 million.[3]
Following the merger, Gulf Oil continued to increase its stake in British American. In 1958, as part of an issuance of 2 million shares, it grew its holdings to 57.8 percent. Then in 1962 Gulf purchased another 1.8 million shares, bringing its ownership to 62.2 percent. By 1968 it owned 68.9 per cent of British American, bringing its total investment to $440 million.[4]
In 1962, British American made a series of acquisitions of major Canadian companies. These included Royalite Oil Company Limited, the Anglo-American Exploration Company Limited, and Superior Propane Limited. In 1968 it acquired a 33 per cent interest in Shawinigan Chemicals from Gulf Oil.
At a special meeting of the shareholders held on 15 November 1968 at the Park Plaza Hotel in Toronto, shareholders voted to merge British American, Royalite, and Shawinigan into a single company called Gulf Oil Canada Limited. The new entity was officially incorporated on 1 April 1969. In 1978, the company was renamed Gulf Canada Limited.
When the Edmonton Oilers, originally named the Alberta Oilers, joined the World Hockey Association prior to the 1972-73 season they had arranged a tentative $10 million sponsorship agreement with Gulf Western, parent company of Gulf Oil. The sponsorship deal included the name Oilers and the team using the same colour scheme as Gulf Oil. The Gulf Western board chairman turned down the deal as he didn't want the company to be seen as copying Imperial Oil given Imperial's sponsorship of Hockey Night In Canada. [5] Despite the rejection, the team chose to keep the name, logo and colour scheme.
Later years, 1985–2001
In late 1985 Chevron Corporation, which had the previous year purchased Gulf Oil, Gulf Canada's parent company, announced a series of transactions for the sale of its shares in Gulf Canada. This was done in part to fulfill promises to the Canadian government as part of its approval for Chevron's purchase of Gulf Canada.[6] In August 1985, Gulf Canada bought 90% of Abitibi-Price from the Montreal-based Reichmann family at the same time as the Reichmann's Olympia and York Developments bought 49.9% of GC from Chevron Corp. At the time, the $2.2 billion takeover was the largest corporate takeover in Canadian history. O&Y later purchased the remaining production, refining, and distribution assets through its new wholly owned subsidiary, Gulf Canada Corporation (GCC). At the time of purchase, GCC owned 2,500 service stations across Canada, was the third-largest oil producer and sixth-largest gas producer in the country, owned three Canadian refineries outright and has a half interest in a fourth, was also active in the Hibernia oil field off Newfoundland and in the Beaufort Sea in the Arctic.[7][8]
Acquisition by Conoco
In May 2001, Gulf Canada Resources Ltd. was purchased by Conoco Northern Inc., an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Texas-based Conoco Inc. for C$6.7 billion (US$4.33 billion).[19] It was known as Conoco Canada Resources Limited.[19][20][21]
Return of Gulf stations
Since 2009, Teklub Canada Ltd is the official distributor of Gulf Oil International Ltd for Gulf branded lubricants in Canada.
Gulf retail operations in Canada re-emerged beginning in 2015 with conversion of XTR Energy Company stations to the Gulf brand under a licensing agreement with Gulf Oil International UK Limited.[1][22]
