Dan's SOHIO Timeline
History of Sohio
A great Ohio institution is built and destroyed
(Caution! see the legal stuff)
1870 The Standard Oil Company is founded in Cleveland, Ohio by John D. Rockefeller.
1875-1878 Rockefeller acquires control of 80% of the total US refining capacity through alliances with other refiners.
1881 Standard Oil Trust is formed, combining the interests of 40 companies under a single board of trustees.
1882 An improved trust is formed and headquarters for it are established in New York City.
1890 Sherman Antitrust Act makes monopolistic practices illegal.
1906 US government files suit against Standard Oil with Sherman Anti-Trust legislation
1911 Finding Standard Oil Trust in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act, the US Supreme Court orders its break-up. The Standard Oil Co., Rockefeller's original corporation, is limited to the Ohio market.
June 1, 1913 Standard Oil opens the World's first automotive service station at Oak and Young Streets in Columbus, Ohio.
1928 Standard Oil Officially adopts the trade name Sohio. The Sohioan, a monthly employee publication, debuts at the start of 1929. Sohio acquires Latonia Refinery (in Kentucky on the Ohio River), initiates a research program, increases advertising and increases refinery production volume.
1930's-1950's Sohio dominates the Ohio refined products market.
1931 Sohio acquires Solar Refining Co. and its only asset, a 10,000 barrel/day refinery in Lima, Ohio. A low-priced grade of gasoline, 'Hi-So Green', is added to the line of X-70 and Sohio Ethyl. Like its predecessor, Red Crown, the new grade is a low octane, straight-run product
1952 Sohio Employee Investment Plan (SEIP) begins
1954 Boron Supreme gasoline is introduced
1955 Premex, a year-round premium motor oil, is introduced
1956 Opens a service station in Newport, Kentucky under the name of the Boron Oil Co., a wholly owned subsidiary. Old Ben Coal is acquired.
1957 Sohio Research develops an innovative single-step method of acrylonitrile production.
1958 X-Tane, Ohio's largest-selling gasoline, is replaced by Extron. Toledo Refinery Integrated Unit, a $40,000,000 expansion project, starts up
1962 Boron Oil Co. launches full-scale entry into Western Pennsylvania market
1963 Proudfoot consulting firm is hired to improve productivity. Their recommendations result in the reduction of approx. 1/3 of the non-union workforce. Hiring is reduced to minimum.
1965? #1 Works in Cleveland is shut down. #2 continues to produce some lubricants
1968 Sohio gasoline sales (in Ohio) exceed those of their nearest 5 competitors combined. Dan starts work in the Lima Refinery laboratory.
1969 Refinery union workers strike as part of a nationwide strike of most facilities represented by the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers trade union. This gives companies the opportunity to test their new 'Emergency Operating Procedure', which temporally replaces hourly workers with exempt personnel.
1969 Management announces Sohio will acquire the North American assets of BP under a merger plan that clearly shows a transfer of ownership to BP when Alaskan oil reaches market. Dan moves to Toledo Refinery laboratory. Arco acquires Sinclair.
1970 Sohio/BP merger consummated. Alton Whitehouse, who headed the legal team that negotiated the merger, becomes President of Sohio. Sohio expands into hotel, restaurant and truck stop operations.
1970-72 Sohio borrows 35 times its net worth to finance its share of Alaskan Oil project
1972 Standard Oil of New Jersey changes its name to Exxon. Sohio replaces the 'Extron' gasoline brand with 'Octron' to avoid confusion.
1973 OPEC flexes their muscles. Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act enacted.
1974 Planning started for 'PACTEX', a system that would ship Alaskan oil from Long Beach, California to Texas via pipeline
1976 ? Although most refineries settle labor contracts without incident, Toledo Refinery workers strike, partly as a result of negotiating blunders by local management. Total corporate employees number approximately 21,000.
1977 Oil flows from the Alaskan Pipeline, producing unprecedented profits. After nearly 20 years of inactivity, corporate hiring expands dramatically.
1978 Plans for the Sohio Building (an apparent Alton Whitehouse shrine) are announced. In June, BP gains ownership of 55% of Sohio when Sohio's share of Alaska Oil volume reaches 600,000 bbl/day.
1979 PACTEX plans are scuttled- failure blamed on unreasonable environmental restrictions. Rumors circulate that environmental permit application deadlines were missed because a Sohio manager's briefcase was lost during a late-night binge. The individual was subsequently promoted! Simultaneously, federal government considers approval of sending Alaskan oil to Japan in trade for OPEC oil. Some, including California Governor Jerry Brown, suggest this change would eliminate Sohio's interest in PACTEX and was the real reason for the cancellation [article]. Dan moves to Cleveland Home Office in refinery technical support staff.
1980 Toledo Refinery union workers strike. Business Week publishes an article that predicts future problems for Sohio because "the company has ballooned in size so suddenly that it lacks the staff, expertise and investment vehicles to make decisive use of its money".
1981 Corporate coffers overflow. Desperate to invest $2 Billion accumulated in banks, Sohio buys Kennecott Copper, paying twice the current stock value. World copper market collapses. Sohio stock plummets from $140/share to $35/share. Long-time employees, heavily invested in SEIP shares, lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in their Sohio portfolio. Only 1 such person admits to selling his shares at the peak, then buying them back at the bottom. He was not popular with his peers!
1982 Activists picket annual meeting and Alton Whitehouse at his country club. [article]
1982-1984 Department empire-building swells employment rolls with MBA graduates from 'Tier 1' schools. Attrition has reduced the proportion of experienced personnel who had survived the 1963 massacre. Management Information Systems staff exceeds Operating units. Sohio invests in fine art for new headquarters- commissions a sculpture of a rubber stamp- 24 feet tall!
1984 After investing nearly $1 Billion , Sohio abandons Mukluk, the largest dry-hole ever, in the Beaufort Sea. BP is nervous. Upper management is reorganized. Austerity strikes Sohio! Hiring slows.
1985 Total corporate employees now number approximately 56,700- 2.7 times the number 5 years earlier. Corporate profits down 14.8% [article]. Manpower reduction plans are announced, based primarily on early retirement benefits offered to the few experienced employees left. Dan retires, having seen the inevitable bleak future these actions will produce. John Miller is CEO. Standard Oil of Indiana changes its name to Amoco.
1986 The Sohio Building is completed and Home Office staff relocates, occupying 36 of 45 floors. The Sohio brand name is abandoned, except for gasoline sales in Ohio, based on poor advice from consultants who suggested a return to The Standard Oil Co. brand. The consulting firm, Lippincott & Margulies is still in business. Their website contains this description of their history: "Lippincott was founded in 1943 and is a member of Mercer, Inc., a Marsh & McLennan company. The firm changed its name from Lippincott & Margulies to Lippincott Mercer in 2003 to reflect its expanded capabilities in brand science consulting". Some might suggest they have an identity crisis themselves!
1987 BP buys the portion of Standard Oil it did not already own, once again reorganizes and assumes control as 'BP America'. Robert Horton is CEO. As a corporation, Sohio ceases to exist and the Sohio Building becomes the BP Building. Sohio is dead. Long live Sohio! Oil prices collapse.
1988-1990 BP replaces the red, white and blue Sohio ovals, once the most recognized logo in the US, with redesigned BP shields 'with an emphasis on the colour green'.
1996 Tosco buys Marcus Hook Refinery, then shut it down due to 'labor problems'. Lima Refinery is offered for sale. Premcor acquires Clark Refining and Marketing Inc. and buys Lima Refinery
1998 BP acquires Amoco, reuniting two former members of the Standard Trust and restoring red, white and blue ovals! BP Building is sold. Dwindling staff, now occupying 6-8 floors, relocates to the Warrensville Laboratory site.
1999 BP Amoco acquires Arco, reuniting with another former member of the Standard Trust. BP Amoco moves headquarters to Chicago, Illinois.
2000 BP drops Amoco from corporate name. Tosco buys Alliance Refinery.
2001 Phillips Petroleum acquires Tosco. Exxon and Mobil merge
2002 Phillips Petroleum Company and Conoco Inc. merge to create ConocoPhillips
2005 Valero Energy Corp. agrees to acquire Premcor. The acquisition will make Valero the largest crude oil refiner in North America
This information is from my memory, supplemented with information from other Web resources. It is NOT represented as fact and should be considered opinion, thus protected by the Free Speech provisions of the United States Constitution. Descriptions of individuals are my impressions of the roles they played in Sohio history and are not intended to slander or defame them (although some certainly deserve such treatment!).
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