Texaco, Inc. (a shortening of "The Texas Company") is an American oil brand owned and operated by Chevron Corporation.[5] Its flagship product is its fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owned the Havoline motor oil brand. Texaco was an independent company until its refining operations merged into Chevron in 2001, at which time most of its station franchises were divested to Shell plc through its American division. It was one of the first gas stations to exist.[6]
Texaco began as the "Texas Fuel Company", founded in 1902 in Beaumont, Texas, by Joseph S. Cullinan, Thomas J. Donoghue, and Arnold Schlaet upon the discovery of oil at Spindletop. The Texas Fuel Company was not set up to drill wells or to produce crude oil. To accomplish this, Cullinan organized the Producers Oil Company in 1902, as a group of investors affiliated with The Texas Fuel Company. Men such as John W. ("Bet A Million") Gates invested in "certificates of interest" to an amount of almost ninety thousand dollars.[7] Future restructuring would merge Producers Oil Company and The Texas Fuel Company as Texaco when the company needed additional funding, which J.W. Gates provided in the amount of approximately $590,000 in return for company stock.
Texaco was one of the Seven Sisters which dominated the global petroleum industry from the mid-1940s to the 1970s. Its current logo features a white star in a red circle (a reference to the lone star of Texas), leading to the long-running advertising jingles "You can trust your car to the man who wears the star" and "Star of the American Road." The company was headquartered in Harrison, New York, near White Plains, prior to the merger with Chevron.
Texaco gasoline comes with Techron, an additive developed by Chevron, as of 2005, replacing the previous CleanSystem3. The Texaco brand is strong in the U.S., Latin America, and West Africa. It has a presence in Europe as well; for example, it is a well-known retail brand in the UK, with around 980 Texaco-branded service stations.[8]
History
1902–59: Beginnings
Texaco was founded in Beaumont, Texas, as the "Texas Fuel Company" in 1902,[9] by Jim Hogg, Joseph S. Cullinan, John Warne Gates, and Arnold Schlaet. On 1 May 1902, the Texas Company was formed from the assets of Texas Fuel assets, and additional capitalization.[10] In 1905, it established an operation in Antwerp, Belgium, under the name Continental Petroleum Company, which it acquired control of in 1913.[11] In 1915, Texaco moved to new 13 story offices on 1111 Rusk St., Houston, Texas. In 1928, Texaco became the first U.S. oil company to sell its gasoline nationwide under one single brand name in all of the then 48 states.[12]
Corporate headquarters
Prior to the merger with Chevron, Texaco's headquarters was a 750000 sqft building in Harrison, in Westchester County, New York, near White Plains.[54][55] In 2002, Chevron Corporation sold the former Texaco Headquarters to Morgan Stanley. Morgan Stanley bought the building and the surrounding 107 acre for $42 million.[54]
Texaco leased 14 floors of the Chrysler Building in Midtown Manhattan, New York City in the 1930s. As part of the leasing agreement with Texaco the building opened the Cloud Club, a lunch club for executives. Texaco's move to Westchester County in 1977 contributed to the closure of the Cloud Club in 1979.[56]
Sponsorships
Sports
Texaco is associated with the Havoline brand of motor oil and other automotive products. It was one of the sponsors of NASCAR with many drivers, such as Davey Allison, Ernie Irvan, Dale Jarrett, Kenny Irwin Jr., Ricky Rudd, Jamie McMurray, Casey Mears, and Juan Pablo Montoya. Havoline continuously sponsored a car from the early 1980s to 2008. At the end of the 2008 season, Texaco/Havoline ended their sponsorship with NASCAR and Chip Ganassi Racing. This brought a 20-plus-year relationship with the sport to a close.[57]
Texaco was also involved in open wheel racing, sponsoring the Texaco Grand Prix of Houston along with sponsoring drivers like Indianapolis 500 winner Mario Andretti and his son Michael.[58]
Environmental issues
From 1965 to 1993, Texaco participated in a consortium to develop the Lago Agrio oil field in Ecuador. The company was accused of extensive environmental damage from these operations, and faces legal claims from both private plaintiffs and from the government of Ecuador. The case was widely publicized by environmental activists and was the subject of Crude, a 2009 documentary film by Joe Berlinger.
In turn, Texaco's owner Chevron claims that it was being unfairly targeted as a deep pocket defendant, when the actual responsibility lies with the government and its national oil company, Petroecuador.[62]
Texaco allegedly decided to forgo their standard drilling practices in favor for a minor savings on the cost to produce a barrel of crude oil (approximately $3/barrel). Texaco allegedly dumped toxic wastewater directly into rivers and waste into unlined pits, and created pits that were fitted with overflow pipes to nearby waterways, with pits also never being emptied after the drilling operations were concluded. In total, it is estimated that over 18 billion gallons of toxic waste were released into the Amazon rainforest. In addition to the liquid pollution, it is alleged that workers burned off toxic natural gasses and some liquid waste, thus releasing highly toxic dioxins into the atmosphere.[63]
Diversification
The NiMH chemistry used in modern hybrid vehicles was invented by ECD Ovonics founder Stan Ovshinsky, and Dr. Masahiko Oshitani of the Yuasa Company[64][65] In 1994, General Motors acquired a controlling interest in Ovonics's battery development and manufacturing. On October 10, 2001, Texaco purchased GM's share in GM Ovonics, and Chevron completed its acquisition of Texaco six days later. In 2003, Texaco Ovonics Battery Systems was restructured into Cobasys, a 50/50 joint venture between Chevron and Energy Conversion Devices (ECD) Ovonics.[66]
Leadership
President
- 1) Joseph S. Cullinan, 1902–1913
- 2) Elgood C. Lufkin, 1913–1920
- 3) Amos L. Beaty, 1920–1926
- 4) Ralph C. Holmes, 1926–1933
- 5) William S. Rodgers, 1933–1944
- 6) Harry T. Klein, 1944–1952
- 7) John S. Leach, 1952–1953
- 8) Augustus C. Long, 1953–1956
- 9) James W. Foley, 1956–1963
- 10) J. Howard Rambin Jr, 1964
- 11) Marion J. Epley, 1965–1970
- 12) Maurice F. Granville, 1970–1971
- 13) John K. McKinley, 1971–1983
- 14) Alfred C. DeCrane Jr, 1983–1986
External links
References
- [https://www.texaco.com/history#:~:text=OUR%20STAR%20IS%20BORN&text=Texaco%20was%20born%20in%20Beaumont,it%20became%20our%20favorite%20nickname. About The Texas Company] on Texaco website^
- Chevron Corp, Form 8-K, Current Report, Filing Date May 10, 2005 secdatabase.com, retrieved March 24, 2013^
- Shareholders approval of Chevron-Texaco deal creates industry's lates behemoth by George Raine at SFGate^