page_title: Gulf Oil
section_title: 1901–1982
hierarchical_section_title: Gulf Oil / History / 1901–1982
context_page_description: Gulf Oil was a major global oil company from 1901 until March 15, 1985. The eighth-largest American manufacturing company in 1941 and the ninth-largest in 1979, Gulf Oil was one of the so-called Seven Sisters oil companies. Prior to its merger with Standard Oil of California, Gulf was one of the chief instruments of the Mellon family fortune; both Gulf and Mellon Financial had their headquarters in Pittsburgh.
  Gulf's former headquarters, originally referred to as "the Gulf Building", is an Art Deco skyscraper. The tallest building in Pittsburgh until 1970, when it was eclipsed by the U.S. Steel Tower, it is capped by a step pyramid structure several stories high. Until 1973, the entire top was illuminated, changing color with changes in barometric pressure to provide a weather indicator that could be seen for many miles. After 1973 until the 2000s, only a beacon on top would change colors.
  Gulf Oil Corporation ceased to exist as an independent company in 1985, when it merged with Standard Oil of California, with both re-branding as Chevron in the United States.
context_section_description: The business that became Gulf Oil started in 1901 with the discovery of oil at Spindletop near Beaumont, Texas. A group of investors came together to promote the development of a modern refinery at nearby 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 wildcatters. 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. The name of the company refers to the Gulf of Mexico where Beaumont lies.
  Output from Spindletop peaked at around 100,000 barrels per day (16,000 m³/d) just after it was discovered and then started to decline. Later discoveries made 1927 the peak year of Spindletop production, 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-km) Glenn Pool pipeline connecting oilfields in Oklahoma with Gulf's refinery at 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.
  Gulf promoted the concept of branded product sales by selling gasoline in containers and from pumps marked with a distinctive orange disc logo. A customer buying Gulf-branded gasoline could be assured of its quality and consistent standard. (In the early 20th century, non-branded gasoline 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 oil industry: exploration, production, transport, refining and marketing. It also involved itself in associated industries such as petrochemicals 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 Ferry Lake, and the 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 had acquired the Venezuelan-American Creole Syndicate's leases in the strip of shallow water 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) wide along the Lake Maracaibo east shore.
  In Colombia, Gulf purchased the Barco oil concession in 1926. 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. In 1936 Gulf sold Barco to the Texas Corporation, now Texaco, and they would eventually all merge together as Chevron.
  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. 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.
  In 1934, the Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) was fo
caption: Early Gulf logo c. 1920