ARCO
Encyclopedia
Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO) is an oil company with operations in the United States
as well as in Indonesia
, the North Sea
, and the South China Sea
. It has more than 1,300 gas stations in the western part of the United States. ARCO was originally formed by the merger of East Coast
-based Atlantic Refining
and California
-based Richfield Oil Corporation in 1966. A subsequent merger in 1969 brought in Sinclair Oil Corporation. It became a subsidiary of UK
-based BP
in 2000 through its BP West Coast Products LLC (BPWCP) affiliate.
ARCO is known for its low-priced gasoline compared to other national brands, mainly due to an early 1980s decision to emphasize cost cutting (cash/debit only policy) and alternative sources of income (ampm
). ARCO is headquartered
in La Palma, California
.
trust in 1874, but achieved independence again when Standard Oil was broken up in 1911.
In 1915, Atlantic opens its first gas station on Baum Boulevard in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
.
In 1917, First Richfield Oil Company of California gas station at Slauson and Central Avenues in Los Angeles
, California. Richfield Oil Company of California logo is an Eagle trademark.
Atlantic Refining Company is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
.
In 1921, Sinclair Oil
Company opens first modern service station in Chicago
called "Greasing Palace No. 1". Sinclair gets into trouble with Teapot Dome scandal
.
In 1966, Atlantic merges with the Richfield Oil Company of California. The first CEO was Robert Orville Anderson. The new company boasts a new trademark, a red diamond shape called the ARCO Spark designed by Bauhaus
artist, designer, and architect Herbert Bayer
.
Commercial oil exploration started in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, in the 1960s and the Prudhoe Bay Oil Field
, North America's largest oil field, was discovered on March 12, 1968, by Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO) and Exxon with the well Prudhoe Bay State #1. Key employees with ARCO Alaska were Marvin Mangus
and John M. Sweet. The Richfield Oil Company of California had purchased the drilling rights to the land where the discovery well was located. British Petroleum
had drilling rights near the discovery well.
ARCO acquired Sinclair Oil Corporation in 1969, but later divested certain Sinclair assets during the mid 1970s, resulting in Sinclair returning as a private company.
In 1978, ARCO opened the first of its ampm convenience stores in Southern California.
ARCO once had a presence in the Southwestern U.S. — a stretch of Texas State Highway 225 east of Loop 610 in Houston, Texas
, had an oil tank farm once painted with the ARCO logo. Lyondell-Citgo
would rebrand the oil tanks in the 1980s. ARCO's Corporate Headquarters were in the ARCO Center
in Los Angeles at the corner of 5th and Flower Streets before they were acquired by BP. ARCO's Oil & Gas division headquarters were in downtown Dallas, Texas
. The headquarters' building was a 46-story office building designed by architect I.M. Pei, the ARCO Tower. ARCO closed the Dallas office and sold the building in the mid 1980s. Today, ARCO operates about 1,100 stations in five Western states: California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, and Arizona.
ARCO merged with Anaconda Copper Mining Company
(ACM) of Montana
in 1977. ACM holdings including the Berkeley Pit
and the Anaconda, Montana
Smelter. ARCO founder stated "he hoped Anaconda's resources and expertise would help him launch a major shale-oil venture, but that the world oil glut
and the declining price of petroleum
made shale oil
moot." The purchase turned out to be a regrettable decision for ARCO. A lack of experience with hard-rock mining
and a sudden drop in the price of copper
to below seventy cents a pound, the lowest in years, caused ARCO to suspend all operations in Butte, Montana
. By 1983, only six years after acquiring rights to the "Richest Hill on Earth", the Berkeley Pit was completely idle. By 1986, some ARCO properties were sold to billionaire industrialist Dennis Washington
, whose company, Montana Resources, operates a much smaller open-pit mine east of the defunct Berkeley Pit.
In 1985, the Atlantic brand was spun off for ARCO's East Coast stations as Atlantic Petroleum
. Atlantic was acquired by Dutch trader John Deuss who later sold it in 1988 to Sunoco
. The ARCO brand is now used on the West Coast. ARCO specializes in discount gas by removing many frills, among them forcing prepayment for fuel, not accepting credit card
s at most locations, and charging 45 cents for the use of debit card
s. In most locations, it is co-branded with ampm
convenience stores, also a division of BP West Coast (ARCO introduced the ampm concept in 1979).
ARCO financed EASTLUND in the beginning of the 1990s for High Auroral Active Research Project (HAARP Project). In March 1997, ARCO also leased almost all the gas stations of the (now) Santa Fe Springs, California
based independent Thrifty Oil group of 250 stations found throughout California after a damaging price war which the independent Thrifty was unable to win.
On April 18, 2000, ARCO was purchased by BP America and completely merged into BP operations except for ARCO Alaska which, due to FTC requirements, was sold by BP to Phillips Petroleum. ARCO as a subsidiary no longer exists.
Over the course of 2004 and 2005, ARCO signs have been replaced. New signs still have the Arco spark, but BP's Helios
(BP's new white, yellow, and green "sunburst" mark named after the Greek Sun god, replacing the old British Petroleum shield mark) is also located on the sign. A new tagline "ARCO - part of BP" has also appeared on some signs and advertisements. ARCO is known for sponsoring the ARCO Arena
in Sacramento, California
, with a license fee of $750,000/year through 2007.
site—a site that takes in the towns of Butte and Anaconda, and 120 miles (193.1 km) of the Clark Fork River including Milltown Dam
. The region's water and soil were polluted by a century of mining and smelting. Chemicals of concern include many heavy metals and arsenic. On 7 February 2008, the United States Environmental Protection Agency announced that prolonged litigation with ARCO ended when ARCO agreed to pay $187 million to finance natural resource restoration activities.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
as well as in Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
, the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
, and the South China Sea
South China Sea
The South China Sea is a marginal sea that is part of the Pacific Ocean, encompassing an area from the Singapore and Malacca Straits to the Strait of Taiwan of around...
. It has more than 1,300 gas stations in the western part of the United States. ARCO was originally formed by the merger of East Coast
East Coast of the United States
The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, refers to the easternmost coastal states in the United States, which touch the Atlantic Ocean and stretch up to Canada. The term includes the U.S...
-based Atlantic Refining
Atlantic Petroleum
Atlantic Petroleum was an oil company in the Eastern United States headquartered in Philadelphia, and a direct descendant of the Standard Oil Trust. It was also one of the companies that merged with Richfield Oil to form ARCO, now part of BP...
and California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
-based Richfield Oil Corporation in 1966. A subsequent merger in 1969 brought in Sinclair Oil Corporation. It became a subsidiary of UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
-based BP
BP
BP p.l.c. is a global oil and gas company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest energy company and fourth-largest company in the world measured by revenues and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors"...
in 2000 through its BP West Coast Products LLC (BPWCP) affiliate.
ARCO is known for its low-priced gasoline compared to other national brands, mainly due to an early 1980s decision to emphasize cost cutting (cash/debit only policy) and alternative sources of income (ampm
Ampm
ampm is a convenience store chain with branches located in several U.S. states including Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, recently in Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Georgia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida, and in several countries worldwide, including Japan...
). ARCO is headquartered
Headquarters
Headquarters denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the top of a corporation taking full responsibility managing all business activities...
in La Palma, California
La Palma, California
La Palma is a city located in northern Orange County, California. Incorporated on October 26, 1955, the population was 15,408 at the 2000 census...
.
History
The Atlantic Petroleum Storage Company's heritage dates back to 1866. It became part of the Standard OilStandard Oil
Standard Oil was a predominant American integrated oil producing, transporting, refining, and marketing company. Established in 1870 as a corporation in Ohio, it was the largest oil refiner in the world and operated as a major company trust and was one of the world's first and largest multinational...
trust in 1874, but achieved independence again when Standard Oil was broken up in 1911.
In 1915, Atlantic opens its first gas station on Baum Boulevard in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
.
In 1917, First Richfield Oil Company of California gas station at Slauson and Central Avenues in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, California. Richfield Oil Company of California logo is an Eagle trademark.
Atlantic Refining Company is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
.
In 1921, Sinclair Oil
Sinclair Oil
Sinclair Oil Corporation is an American petroleum corporation, founded by Harry F. Sinclair on May 1, 1916 as the Sinclair Oil & Refining Corporation by combining the assets of 11 small petroleum companies. Originally a New York corporation, Sinclair Oil reincorporated in Wyoming in 1976...
Company opens first modern service station in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
called "Greasing Palace No. 1". Sinclair gets into trouble with Teapot Dome scandal
Teapot Dome scandal
The Teapot Dome Scandal was a bribery incident that took place in the United States in 1922–23, during the administration of President Warren G. Harding. Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall leased Navy petroleum reserves at Teapot Dome and two other locations to private oil companies at low...
.
In 1966, Atlantic merges with the Richfield Oil Company of California. The first CEO was Robert Orville Anderson. The new company boasts a new trademark, a red diamond shape called the ARCO Spark designed by Bauhaus
Bauhaus
', commonly known simply as Bauhaus, was a school in Germany that combined crafts and the fine arts, and was famous for the approach to design that it publicized and taught. It operated from 1919 to 1933. At that time the German term stood for "School of Building".The Bauhaus school was founded by...
artist, designer, and architect Herbert Bayer
Herbert Bayer
Herbert Bayer was an Austrian American graphic designer, painter, photographer, sculptor, art director, environmental & interior designer, and architect, who was widely recognized as the last living member of the Bauhaus and was instrumental in the development of the Atlantic Richfield Company's...
.
Commercial oil exploration started in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, in the 1960s and the Prudhoe Bay Oil Field
Prudhoe Bay oil field
Prudhoe Bay Oil Field is a large oil field on Alaska's North Slope. It is the largest oil field in both the United States and in North America, covering and originally containing approximately of oil.. BP. August 2006...
, North America's largest oil field, was discovered on March 12, 1968, by Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO) and Exxon with the well Prudhoe Bay State #1. Key employees with ARCO Alaska were Marvin Mangus
Marvin Mangus
Marvin Dale Mangus was an American geologist and landscape painter.- Early life :Marvin Mangus was born in Altoona, Pennsylvania. His father, Alfred Ross Mangus , initially worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad in Altoona, but later started Mangus Express Company, a small trucking company based in...
and John M. Sweet. The Richfield Oil Company of California had purchased the drilling rights to the land where the discovery well was located. British Petroleum
BP
BP p.l.c. is a global oil and gas company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest energy company and fourth-largest company in the world measured by revenues and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors"...
had drilling rights near the discovery well.
ARCO acquired Sinclair Oil Corporation in 1969, but later divested certain Sinclair assets during the mid 1970s, resulting in Sinclair returning as a private company.
ARCO once had a presence in the Southwestern U.S. — a stretch of Texas State Highway 225 east of Loop 610 in Houston, Texas
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
, had an oil tank farm once painted with the ARCO logo. Lyondell-Citgo
Citgo
CITGO Petroleum Corporation is a United States-incorporated, Venezuela-owned refiner, transporter and marketer of transportation fuels, lubricants, petrochemicals and other industrial products. The company is owned by PDV America, Inc., an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Petróleos de...
would rebrand the oil tanks in the 1980s. ARCO's Corporate Headquarters were in the ARCO Center
ARCO Center
Bank of America Plaza, formerly Security Pacific Plaza, is a 55 story class-A office skyscraper in Los Angeles, California. It was completed in 1974 with the headquarters of Security Pacific National Bank, and Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton as its main tenants...
in Los Angeles at the corner of 5th and Flower Streets before they were acquired by BP. ARCO's Oil & Gas division headquarters were in downtown Dallas, Texas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
. The headquarters' building was a 46-story office building designed by architect I.M. Pei, the ARCO Tower. ARCO closed the Dallas office and sold the building in the mid 1980s. Today, ARCO operates about 1,100 stations in five Western states: California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, and Arizona.
ARCO merged with Anaconda Copper Mining Company
Anaconda Copper
Anaconda Copper Mining Company was one of the largest trusts of the early 20th century. The Anaconda was purchased by Atlantic Richfield Company on January 12, 1977...
(ACM) of Montana
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
in 1977. ACM holdings including the Berkeley Pit
Berkeley Pit
The Berkeley Pit is a former open pit copper mine located in Butte, Montana, United States. It is one mile long by half a mile wide with an approximate depth of . It is filled to a depth of about with water that is heavily acidic , about the acidity of cola or lemon juice...
and the Anaconda, Montana
Anaconda, Montana
Anaconda, county seat of Anaconda City/Deer Lodge County, is located in mountainous southwestern Montana. The Continental Divide passes within 8 miles of the community with the local Pintler Mountain range reaching 10,379 feet...
Smelter. ARCO founder stated "he hoped Anaconda's resources and expertise would help him launch a major shale-oil venture, but that the world oil glut
1980s oil glut
The 1980s oil glut was a serious surplus of crude oil caused by falling demand following the 1970s Energy Crisis. The world price of oil, which had peaked in 1980 at over US$35 per barrel , fell in 1986 from $27 to below $10...
and the declining price of petroleum
Price of petroleum
The price of petroleum as quoted in news generally refers to the spot price per barrel of either WTI/light crude as traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange for delivery at Cushing, Oklahoma, or of Brent as traded on the Intercontinental Exchange for delivery at Sullom Voe.The price...
made shale oil
Shale oil
Shale oil, known also as kerogen oil or oil-shale oil, is an unconventional oil produced from oil shale by pyrolysis, hydrogenation, or thermal dissolution. These processes convert the organic matter within the rock into synthetic oil and gas...
moot." The purchase turned out to be a regrettable decision for ARCO. A lack of experience with hard-rock mining
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
and a sudden drop in the price of copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
to below seventy cents a pound, the lowest in years, caused ARCO to suspend all operations in Butte, Montana
Butte, Montana
Butte is a city in Montana and the county seat of Silver Bow County, United States. In 1977, the city and county governments consolidated to form the sole entity of Butte-Silver Bow. As of the 2010 census, Butte's population was 34,200...
. By 1983, only six years after acquiring rights to the "Richest Hill on Earth", the Berkeley Pit was completely idle. By 1986, some ARCO properties were sold to billionaire industrialist Dennis Washington
Dennis Washington
Dennis R. Washington is a Montana-based industrialist and philanthropist who owns, or co-owns controlling interest in, a large consortium of privately held companies collectively known as the Washington Companies and, in Canada, another collection of companies known as the Washington Marine Group...
, whose company, Montana Resources, operates a much smaller open-pit mine east of the defunct Berkeley Pit.
In 1985, the Atlantic brand was spun off for ARCO's East Coast stations as Atlantic Petroleum
Atlantic Petroleum
Atlantic Petroleum was an oil company in the Eastern United States headquartered in Philadelphia, and a direct descendant of the Standard Oil Trust. It was also one of the companies that merged with Richfield Oil to form ARCO, now part of BP...
. Atlantic was acquired by Dutch trader John Deuss who later sold it in 1988 to Sunoco
Sunoco
Sunoco Inc. is an American petroleum and petrochemical manufacturer headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, formerly known as Sun Company Inc. and Sun Oil Co. ....
. The ARCO brand is now used on the West Coast. ARCO specializes in discount gas by removing many frills, among them forcing prepayment for fuel, not accepting credit card
Credit card
A credit card is a small plastic card issued to users as a system of payment. It allows its holder to buy goods and services based on the holder's promise to pay for these goods and services...
s at most locations, and charging 45 cents for the use of debit card
Debit card
A debit card is a plastic card that provides the cardholder electronic access to his or her bank account/s at a financial institution...
s. In most locations, it is co-branded with ampm
Ampm
ampm is a convenience store chain with branches located in several U.S. states including Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, recently in Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Georgia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida, and in several countries worldwide, including Japan...
convenience stores, also a division of BP West Coast (ARCO introduced the ampm concept in 1979).
ARCO financed EASTLUND in the beginning of the 1990s for High Auroral Active Research Project (HAARP Project). In March 1997, ARCO also leased almost all the gas stations of the (now) Santa Fe Springs, California
Santa Fe Springs, California
Santa Fe Springs is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is one of the Gateway Cities of southeast Los Angeles County. The population was 16,223 at the 2010 census, down from 17,438 at the 2000 census....
based independent Thrifty Oil group of 250 stations found throughout California after a damaging price war which the independent Thrifty was unable to win.
On April 18, 2000, ARCO was purchased by BP America and completely merged into BP operations except for ARCO Alaska which, due to FTC requirements, was sold by BP to Phillips Petroleum. ARCO as a subsidiary no longer exists.
Over the course of 2004 and 2005, ARCO signs have been replaced. New signs still have the Arco spark, but BP's Helios
Helios
Helios was the personification of the Sun in Greek mythology. Homer often calls him simply Titan or Hyperion, while Hesiod and the Homeric Hymn separate him as a son of the Titans Hyperion and Theia or Euryphaessa and brother of the goddesses Selene, the moon, and Eos, the dawn...
(BP's new white, yellow, and green "sunburst" mark named after the Greek Sun god, replacing the old British Petroleum shield mark) is also located on the sign. A new tagline "ARCO - part of BP" has also appeared on some signs and advertisements. ARCO is known for sponsoring the ARCO Arena
ARCO Arena
Power Balance Pavilion is an indoor arena, located in the Natomas area of Sacramento, California. It is the home of the NBA's Sacramento Kings.-Background:...
in Sacramento, California
Sacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...
, with a license fee of $750,000/year through 2007.
Superfund site
ARCO is the responsible party for America's largest SuperfundSuperfund
Superfund is the common name for the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 , a United States federal law designed to clean up sites contaminated with hazardous substances...
site—a site that takes in the towns of Butte and Anaconda, and 120 miles (193.1 km) of the Clark Fork River including Milltown Dam
Milltown Dam
The Milltown Reservoir Sediments Superfund Site is part of the largest Superfund complex in the western United States. Situated in the Clark Fork River Basin, the complex stretches from the Warm Spring Ponds area near Butte, MT to the Milltown Dam site east of Missoula, MT...
. The region's water and soil were polluted by a century of mining and smelting. Chemicals of concern include many heavy metals and arsenic. On 7 February 2008, the United States Environmental Protection Agency announced that prolonged litigation with ARCO ended when ARCO agreed to pay $187 million to finance natural resource restoration activities.
See also
- Harold HarbyHarold HarbyNot to be confused with Harold A. Henry, Los Angeles City Council member 1945–66.Harold Harby was elected to the Los Angeles, California, City Council in 1939, but he had to leave office in 1942 when he was convicted of using a city car for a trip out of the state. He was reelected in 1943 and...
, Los Angeles City Council member, 1939–42, 1943–57, worked for Richfield Oil