Conoco

Conoco Inc. is a defunct American oil company founded by Isaac Elder Blake in 1875 as the Continental Oil and Transportation Company.[1] 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.[2][3]

Former Conoco station in Commerce, Oklahoma

A former Conoco at a restaurant in Watauga, Texas. Pictured on April 17, 2017.

The Continental Oil and Transportation Company was founded by Isaac Elder Blake in 1875.[1][4] Based in Ogden, Utah, the company distributed oil, kerosene, benzene, and other products in the western United States.[5] Continental Oil Company was acquired by Standard Oil Company in 1884 and was spun off from Standard Oil during the Standard Oil divestiture in 1911. 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.[4][6] 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 which would become Conoco's logo from 1930 to 1970, when the now-familiar capsule logo was adopted.[7][8]

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.[9]

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.[10][11]

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. Mobil Corporation, the nation's second-largest oil company at the time, also joined the bid, and borrowed $5 billion to bid for Cocono.[12] In the end, Seagram and Mobil lost out in the Conoco bidding war.[13] In exchange for its stake in Conoco Inc, Seagram became a 24.3% owner of DuPont. By 1995, Seagram was DuPont's largest single shareholder with four seats on the board of directors.[14]

In 1998, DuPont sold 30% of Conoco,[15] and in 1999, DuPont sold the remaining 70% stake it holds in Conoco Inc.[16] When the independent Conoco went public in October 1998, under a retooled name, Continental Oil Company, it resulted in the largest IPO in history.[17][18] In 2001, Conoco announced it has agreed to buy Gulf Canada Resources Ltd. for C$6.7 billion ($4.3 billion).[19][20][21] Conoco merged with Phillips Petroleum Company in 2002 to form ConocoPhillips.[22][23]

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.[24][25]

The headquarters of Conoco moved to Houston, Texas, in 1949.[4] 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.[26] In 1982, DuPont announced that Conoco's headquarters would move from Stamford to Wilmington, Delaware.[27] The move occurred in 1982.[15] 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.[26]

In 1995, Conoco Inc. was awarded a contract by Iran to develop a huge offshore oilfield in the Persian Gulf. It was the first energy agreement involving Iran and the United States since Washington severed relations with Tehran in 1980. The contract was signed after three years of negotiations.[28] However, the company dropped the plan after the White House announced that President Bill Clinton would issue a directive blocking all such transactions on grounds of national security.[29]

• Mathews, John Joseph (1992). Life and Death of an Oil Man: The Career of E. W. Marland (1951 ed.). Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0-8061-1238-7.
• Moody’s Industrial Manual. 1960.

• Official website
• The Conoco-Somalia Declassification Project at College of DuPage