Texaco

{{Short description|American petroleum brand owned by Chevron Corporation}}

{{hatnote group|

{{Distinguish|Texico (disambiguation){{!}}Texico|Texcoco}}

{{For|the novel by Patrick Chamoiseau|Texaco (novel){{!}}Texaco (novel)}}

}}

{{Infobox company

| name = Texaco, Inc.

| former_names = {{plainlist|

The Texas Company (1902–1959)[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
Texaco (1959–2001)
ChevronTexaco (2001–2005){{cite web|url=http://pdf.secdatabase.com/59/0000950149-05-000327.pdf |title=Chevron Corp, Form 8-K, Current Report, Filing Date May 10, 2005 |publisher=secdatabase.com |access-date =March 24, 2013}}

}}

| logo = Texaco logo.svg

| logo_size = 250

| type = {{plainlist|

Private (1902–2001)
Subsidiary (2001–2005)
Brand (since 2005)

}}

| fate = Acquired by Chevron Corporation in October 2001,[https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/THE-CHEVRON-TEXACO-MERGER-An-oil-giant-2870161.php Shareholders approval of Chevron-Texaco deal creates industry's lates behemoth] by eorge Raine at SFGate changed to "ChevronTexaco" until 2005, when it became a brand of it

| industry = Petroleum

| foundation = {{start date and age|1902}} (as Texas Fuel Company) in Beaumont, Texas, U.S.

| founders = Joseph S. Cullinan
Lewis Henry Lapham
Arnold Schlaet

| hq_location = Texaco Headquarters

| location_city = White Plains, New York

| locations = 2,000+ (2006){{cite web|url=http://www.texaco.com/about-timeline.aspx|title=History of Texaco - Texaco With Techron|access-date=2015-10-20|archive-date=2013-07-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130708122727/http://www.texaco.com/about-timeline.aspx|url-status=dead}}

| area_served = Worldwide

| products = Gasoline, natural gas, motor oils, other petrochemicals

| owner = Chevron Corporation (2001–present)

| parent =

| subsid = Indian Oil Co. (1931–1943)

| brands = Havoline (1931–2001)

| homepage = {{URL|https://www.texaco.com|texaco.com}}

}}

Texaco, Inc. ("The Texas Company") is an American oil brand owned and operated by Chevron Corporation.[https://www.chevron.com/operations/products-services/fuel-stations Chevron fuel brands and stations] on Chevron website (retr. 2022-6-11) 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.{{Cite web |title=About Texaco {{!}} Texaco (US) |url=https://www.texaco.com/en_us/home/about-texaco.html |access-date=2025-05-03 |website=www.texaco.com}}

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.{{cite web |last1=Gish |first1=Elton N. |title=HISTORY of THE TEXAS COMPANY And PORT ARTHUR WORKS Refinery |url=https://www.texacohistory.com/History/ |access-date=4 September 2018}} 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."{{Citation needed|date=October 2009}} 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.{{Cite web |title=Texaco UK Station Locator |url=https://texaco.co.uk/ |access-date=2023-02-02 |website=texaco.co.uk |language=en}}

History

=1902–59: Beginnings=

File:Texas Company Building -- Houston.jpg

File:Texas company galveston.jpg station, c. 1910-20]]

Texaco was founded in Beaumont, Texas as the "Texas Fuel Company" in 1902,{{Cite web |url=http://www.texaco.com/about.html |title=About |access-date=2018-04-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161015201958/http://www.texaco.com/about.html |archive-date=2016-10-15 |url-status=dead }} 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.{{cite book |last1=Linsley |first1=Judith |last2=Rienstrad |first2=Ellen |last3=Stiles |first3=Jo |title=Giant Under the Hill, A History of the Spindletop Oil Discovery at Beaumont, Texas in 1901 |date=2002 |publisher=Texas State Historical Association |location=Austin |isbn=9780876112366 |pages=188–195}} In 1905, it established an operation in Antwerp, Belgium, under the name Continental Petroleum Company, which it acquired control of in 1913.[https://books.google.com/books?id=5GznAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA95 News of the Week: Union Oil of Delaware], Business Digest and Investment Weekly, Volume 26, Issue 5, Arthur Fremont Rider (editor), 1920, p. 95 (retrieved August 2, 2010 from Google Books) 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.{{Cite web|url=http://www.texacobaltic.eu/en/texaco_history|title=History of Texaco | Texaco engine oils and lubricants|website=www.texacobaltic.eu|access-date=2019-02-02|archive-date=2019-02-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190202171446/http://www.texacobaltic.eu/en/texaco_history|url-status=dead}}

File:Texaco Plakat.jpg

{{multiple image

|align = right

|direction = horizontal

|total_width = 230

|image1 = Texaco advertising, Gippsland Motor Garage, Old Gippstown.JPG

|caption1 = Antique Texaco advertising, Gippsland Motor Garage, Old Gippstown

|image2 = Texaco petrol pump 1925.jpg

|caption2 = Vintage Texaco gas pump (1925)

|footer =

}}

In 1931, Texaco purchased the Indian Oil Company, based in Illinois. This expanded Texaco's refining and marketing base in the Midwest and also gave Texaco the rights to Indian's Havoline motor oil, which became a Texaco product. The next year, Texaco introduced Fire Chief gasoline nationwide, a so-called "super-octane" motor fuel touted as meeting or exceeding government standards for gasoline for fire engines and other emergency vehicles.[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/3318442/texaco_fire_chief_superoctane_gasoline/ "Depend on the Gasoline Fire Engines Depend On! Texaco Fire Chief Super-Octane Gasoline,"] Albany Democrat-Herald, May 27, 1932, pg. 4. (Ad.) It was promoted through a radio program over NBC hosted by Ed Wynn, called the Texaco Fire Chief.

In 1936, the Texas Corporation purchased the Barco oil concession in Colombia, and formed a joint venture with Socony-Vacuum, now Mobil, to develop it. Over the next three years the company engaged in a highly challenging project to drill wells and build a pipeline to the coast across mountains and then through uncharted swamps and jungles.{{cite magazine|pages=15ff

|title=U.S. Business Opens the Great New Barco Oil Fields in Colombia|magazine=LIFE|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8kEEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA15|access-date=2013-07-24

|date=1939-11-13|volume=7|issue=20|publisher=Time Inc|issn=0024-3019}} During this time, Texaco also illegally supplied the fascist Nationalist faction in the Spanish Civil War with a total {{convert|3500000|oilbbl}} of oil.{{cite book|last=Tierney|first=Dominic|title=FDR and the Spanish Civil War: neutrality and commitment in the struggle that divided America|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LgkuIcArK6sC&pg=PA68|access-date=June 11, 2010|year=2007|publisher=Duke University Press|page=68|chapter=American Men, American Oil, American Arms|isbn=978-0822340768}} For these illegal sales to Francisco Franco's fascist forces the company was fined $20,000 for violating the Neutrality Act of 1937, although it continued to sell to Franco on credit until the end of the war.{{cite book |last1=Tierney |first1=Dominic |title=FDR and the Spanish Civil War: Neutrality and Commitment in the Struggle that Divided America |date=2007 |page=68 |publisher=Duke University Press}}

Also in 1936, marketing operations "East of Suez" (including Asia, East Africa, and Australasia) were placed into a joint venture with Standard Oil Company of California – Socal (now Chevron) – under the brand name Caltex, in exchange for Socal placing its Bahrain refinery and Arabian oilfields into the venture.{{cite book |last1=Yergin |first1=Daniel |title=The Prize, The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power |date=1991 |publisher=Touchstone |location=New York |isbn=9780671799328 |pages=299}} The next year, Texaco commissioned industrial designer Walter Dorwin Teague to develop a modern service station design.

File:HFM 1939 Dodge Texaco tanker truck.jpg on display at the Henry Ford Museum]]

In 1938, Texaco introduced Sky Chief gasoline, a premium fuel developed from the ground up as a high-octane gasoline rather than just an ethylized regular product. In 1939, Texaco became one of the first oil companies to introduce a "Registered Rest Room" program to ensure that restroom facilities at all Texaco stations nationwide maintained a standard level of cleanliness to the motoring public.

After the onset of World War II in 1939, Texaco's CEO, Torkild Rieber, admirer of Hitler, hired pro-Nazi assistants who cabled Berlin "coded information about ships leaving New York for Britain and what their cargoes were." This espionage easily enabled Hitler to destroy the ships.[https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/03/books/review/spain-in-our-hearts-by-adam-hochschild.html?_r=0/ "‘Spain in Our Hearts,’ by Adam Hochschild,"] Book Review by Michael Kazin, New York Times, March 29, 2016. In 1940, Rieber was forced to resign when his connections with German Nazism, and his illegal supply of oil to the fascist forces during the Spanish Civil War were made public by the Herald Tribune through information produced by British Security Coordination.{{cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LgkuIcArK6sC&q=%22Thorkild%20Rieber%22%20texaco&pg=PA68| title=FDR and the Spanish Civil War: neutrality and commitment in the struggle that divided America| first=Dominic| last=Tierney| page=68| language=fr| isbn=978-0-8223-4076-8|year=2007| publisher=Duke University Press}}{{cite book| url=https://archive.org/details/understandingpow00chom_0| title=Understanding Power| first=Noam| last=Chomsky| page=[https://archive.org/details/understandingpow00chom_0/page/159 159], Chapter 5 footnotes 61–64| isbn=978-1-5658-4703-3| year=2001| publisher=The New Press| url-access=registration}}The Secret History of British Intelligence in the Americas, 1940-1945 pp56-57 Life Magazine portrayed Rieber's resignation as unfair, advocating that he only dined with Westrick, and lent him a company car.

File:Ame05198 04.jpg, Dwight, Illinois]]

During the war, Texaco ranked 93rd among United States corporations in the value of military production contracts.Peck, Merton J. & Scherer, Frederic M. The Weapons Acquisition Process: An Economic Analysis (1962) Harvard Business School p.619 In 1947, Caltex expanded to include Texaco's European marketing operations. That same year, Texaco merged its British operation with Trinidad Leaseholds under the name Regent; it gained full control of Regent in 1956,Report by the Monopolies Commission on the Supply of Petrol to Retailers in the United Kingdom, 1965 but the Regent brand remained in use until 1968–9. In 1954, the company added the detergent additive Petrox to its "Sky Chief" gasoline, which was also souped up with higher octane to meet the antiknock needs of new cars with high-compression engines.

The next year, Texaco became the sole sponsor of The Huntley-Brinkley Report on NBC-TV. In 1959, the Texas Company changed its corporate name to Texaco, Inc. to better reflect the value of the Texaco brand name, which represented the biggest selling gasoline brand in the U.S. and only marketer selling gasoline under one brand name in all (by then) 50 states. It also acquired McColl-Frontenac Oil Company Ltd. of Canada and changes its name to Texaco Canada Limited.{{cite encyclopedia| url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/texaco-canada-inc| title=Texaco Canada Inc| encyclopedia=The Canadian Encyclopedia| date=March 7, 2014| access-date=April 10, 2018| archive-date=April 12, 2018| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180412001153/http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/en/article/texaco-canada-inc/| url-status=live}} Around this time, Paragon Oil, a major fuel oil distribution company in the northeastern U.S., was acquired.

=1964–98: Various ventures =

File:Texaco gas pumps, Milford, Illinois (LOC).jpg, photographed in 1977]]

File:Cattoir Texaco, Arroyo Grande, California LCCN2017707343.tif, 1977]]

In 1964, Texaco introduced the "Matawan" service station design at a station in Matawan, New Jersey.[http://www.texaco.com/sitelets/history/history_stations.html Texaco: Service Stations], accessed November 23, 2006 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170701084448/http://www.texaco.com/sitelets/history/history_stations.html |date=July 1, 2017 }} Two years later, Texaco replaced the long-running banjo sign with a new hexagon logo that had previously been test-marketed with the "Matawan" station design introduced two years earlier. The new logo featured a red outline with TEXACO in black bold lettering and a small banjo logo with a red star and green T at bottom. The following year, the Regent name was replaced by Texaco at British petrol stations.{{cite magazine|title=News and Views: Regent become Texaco|magazine=Autocar |volume=127 | issue = 3746 |page=48|date=November 30, 1967}} In 1970, in response to increasingly-stringent federal vehicle emissions standards that would induce automakers to install catalytic converters requiring equipped vehicles to run on unleaded gasoline, Texaco introduced their first regular-octane no-lead gasoline at stations in the Los Angeles area and throughout Southern California. Lead-Free Texaco became available nationwide in 1974. On November 20, 1980, the Lake Peigneur/Jefferson Island disaster occurred. Two years later, a new service station design was introduced. Several product names were also changed with the advent of self-service, including Lead-free Texaco to Texaco Unleaded, Fire Chief to Texaco Regular, and Super Lead-free Sky Chief to Texaco Super Unleaded.

At the end of 1981 and the beginning of 1982, members of the Medellín Cartel (including Pablo Escobar), the Colombian military, the U.S.-based corporation Texas Petroleum, the Colombian legislature, small industrialists, and wealthy cattle ranchers came together in a series of meetings in Puerto Boyacá, and formed a paramilitary organization known as Muerte a Secuestradores ("Death to Kidnappers", MAS) to defend their economic interests, and to provide protection for local elites from kidnappings and extortion.HRW, 1996: [http://www.hrw.org/legacy/reports/1996/killer2.htm "II. History of the Military-Paramilitary Partnership"]Richani, 2002: p.38Hristov, 2009: [https://books.google.com/books?id=cb49FuJaaCwC&pg=PA65 pp. 65-68] By 1983, Colombian internal affairs had registered 240 political killings by MAS death squads, mostly community leaders, elected officials, and farmers.Santina, Peter "Army of terror", Harvard International Review, Winter 1998/1999, Vol. 21, Issue 1

File:Posto texaco poá.jpg (São Paulo), Brazil, 2009]]

On November 19, 1985, Pennzoil won a US$10.53-billion verdict against Texaco, the largest civil verdict in US history up to that date.{{Cite book |last=Glassman |first=James |title=The Houstorian Calendar: Today in Houston History |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |year=2019 |isbn=978-1-4396-6623-4 |pages=166 |language=en}} The court case sprang from Texaco having established a signed contract to buy Getty Oil after Pennzoil entered into an unsigned—yet binding—buyout contract with Gordon Getty.{{cite encyclopedia| url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Texaco-Inc| title=Texaco Inc. {{!}} American corporation| encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica| access-date=2018-04-10| date=February 19, 2014| language=en}} In 1987, Texaco filed for bankruptcy. It was the largest in U.S. history until 2001.{{cite web| url=http://www.bankruptcydata.com/Research/Largest_Overall_All-Time.pdf| title=Largest corporate bankruptcies| publisher=Bankruptcydata.com| access-date=2013-04-27| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150904063625/http://www.bankruptcydata.com/Research/Largest_Overall_All-Time.pdf|archive-date=2015-09-04| url-status=dead}}

In January 1989, Texaco and Saudi Aramco agreed to form a joint venture known as Star Enterprise in which Saudi Aramco would own a 50% share of Texaco's refining and marketing operations in the eastern U.S. and Gulf Coast.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/01/03/business/saudi-texaco-joint-venture.html|title=Saudi-Texaco Joint Venture|date=January 3, 1989|work=The New York Times| page=11|access-date=June 10, 2009}} In 1989, Texaco introduced System3 gasolines in all three grades of fuel, featuring the latest detergent additive technology to improve performance by reducing deposits that clog fuel injection systems. The Toronto-based Texaco Canada Incorporated subsidiary was sold to Imperial Oil with all Texaco Canada retail operations converted to Esso brand.{{Cite web|last=DeMONT|first=JOHN|title=TEXACO CANADA SAYS GOODBYE {{!}} Maclean's {{!}} JANUARY 30, 1989|url=https://archive.macleans.ca/article/1989/1/30/texaco-canada-says-goodbye|access-date=2021-12-23|website=Maclean's {{!}} The Complete Archive|language=en-US|archive-date=2021-12-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211223230602/https://archive.macleans.ca/article/1989/1/30/texaco-canada-says-goodbye|url-status=dead}}{{Cite web|title=Texaco Canada Inc {{!}} The Canadian Encyclopedia|url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/texaco-canada-inc|access-date=2021-12-23|website=www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca}} Two years later, the company was awarded the National Medal of Arts.{{cite web| url=https://www.arts.gov/honors/medals/last-name-all| title=National Medal of Arts| work=NEA| access-date=April 10, 2018| publisher=National Endowment for the Arts| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100120001719/http://www.nea.gov/honors/medals/medalists_year.html |archive-date=2010-01-20}} In 1993, several dozen tribal leaders and residents from the Ecuadoran Amazon filed a billion-dollar class-action lawsuit against Texaco, as a result of massive ecological pollution of the area and rivers around Texaco's Ecuadorian offshore drilling sites, causing toxic contamination of approximately 30,000 residents.{{cite episode| url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103233560| title=Rain Forest Residents, Texaco Face Off In Ecuador| access-date=April 10, 2018| network=NPR| series=Morning Edition| date=April 30, 2009| last=Forero| first=Juan}}

In 1994, Texaco's System3 gasolines were replaced by new CleanSystem3 gasoline, marketed with claims of improved engine performance through additives designed to clean carbon from car-engine intake valves and combustion chambers.{{Cite book |last=McInerney |first=Francis |title=The Total Quality Corporation: How 10 Major Companies Turned Quality and Environmental Challenges to Competitive Advantage in the 1990s |last2=White |first2=Sean |date=1995 |publisher=North River Ventures |isbn=978-0-525-93928-3 |location=New York |pages=61 |language=en}} In 1995, Texaco merged their Danish and Norwegian downstream operations with those of Norsk Hydro under the new brand HydroTexaco. This joint venture was sold in 2007 to Norwegian retail interests as YX Energi, following the purchase of Hydro by Statoil. In 1996, Texaco paid over $170 million to settle racial discrimination lawsuits filed by Black employees at the company. It was the largest racial-discrimination lawsuit settlement in the U.S. at the time, and was particularly damaging to Texaco's public relations when tapes were released of meetings with company executives planning to destroy incriminating evidence.{{cite news |date=16 November 1996|title=Texaco Settles Race Bias Suit for $176 Million|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-11-16-mn-65290-story.html|work=Los Angeles Times|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190506021943/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-11-16-mn-65290-story.html|archive-date=6 May 2019|last1=Mulligan|first1=Thomas S.|last2=Kraul|first2=Chris|access-date=15 October 2024}}

=1999–present: Chevron Corporation=

File:Texaco Gas Station (5699751015).jpg

In 1999, the company formed the joint venture Equilon with Shell Oil Company, combining their Western and Midwestern U.S. refining and marketing.[http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/finance/mergers/stindex.html Aspects of the Refining/Marketing Joint Ventures of Shell Oil, Star Enterprises, and Texaco] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100615132522/http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/finance/mergers/stindex.html |date=2010-06-15 }}, Retrieved on June 10, 2009. This gave rise to the 2006 U.S. Supreme Court antitrust case of Texaco Inc. v. Dagher, which cleared both Texaco and Shell of any antitrust liability concerning the pricing of Equilon's gasoline. That same year, another joint venture, Motiva Enterprises, was formed with Shell Oil Company and Saudi Aramco in which the Star Enterprise operations were merged with the Eastern and Gulf Coast U.S. refining and marketing operations of Shell.

File:Texaco, Old Chester Road, Bebington.jpg, UK, 2018]]

In October 2000, Chevron Corporation agreed to buy Texaco for $36 billion.[https://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/16/business/chevron-agrees-to-buy-texaco-for-stock-valued-at-36-billion.html Chevron agrees to boy Texaco] on The New York Times The merger was completed October 9, 2001. As required by the FTC consent agreement,{{Cite web|title=FTC Consent Agreement Allows the Merger of Chevron Corp. and Texaco Inc., Preserves Market Competition|url=https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2001/09/ftc-consent-agreement-allows-merger-chevron-corp-and-texaco-inc|website=Federal Trade Commission|date=7 September 2001}} Texaco's interest in the Equilon and Motiva joint ventures were sold to Shell.{{cite news| url=http://www.vault.com/company-profiles/retail/texaco,-inc/company-overview| title=TEXACO INC.{{!}}Company Profile{{!}}Vault.com| work=Vault| access-date=2017-08-25| language=en| archive-date=2017-08-25| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170825184633/http://www.vault.com/company-profiles/retail/texaco,-inc/company-overview| url-status=dead}}{{cite news| url=http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/stories/2002/02/04/daily41.html| title=Shell to brand new U.S. gas stations| date=February 8, 2002| work=Houston Business Journal}} Shell began re-branding its Texaco stations as Shell the next year.{{cite news| url=http://driving.myfoxcharlotte.com/news_this_week/2002-05-08-1912-driving/index.html| title=Trust Your Car to the Man who Wears the... Shell| last=Nerad| first=Jack| date=May 8, 2002| work=Driving Today| access-date=March 24, 2009| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120224120733/http://driving.myfoxcharlotte.com/news_this_week/2002-05-08-1912-driving/index.html| archive-date=February 24, 2012}} Around 2003, due to lack of demand, Texaco closed Refineria Panamá, a refinery in Colón, Panama.{{Cite web|url=https://m.panamaamerica.com.pa/economia/refineria-panama-entre-rosas-y-espinas-80525|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191216092755/https://m.panamaamerica.com.pa/economia/refineria-panama-entre-rosas-y-espinas-80525|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 16, 2019|title=Refinería Panamá, entre rosas y espinas|date=February 17, 2003|website=Panamá América}} In July 2004, Chevron regained non-exclusive rights to the Texaco brand name in the U.S.{{cite press release| title=ChevronTexaco Welcomes Back the Texaco Retail Brand in the U.S.| publisher=ChevronTexaco| date=Jul 1, 2004| url=http://www.chevron.com/news/press/Release/?id=2004-07-01a| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303195359/http://www.chevron.com/news/press/Release/?id=2004-07-01a| archive-date=2016-03-03}} The following year, in August, Texaco introduced the Techron additive into its fuels in the U.S. and parts of Latin America.{{cite press release |title=Chevron Launches Texaco with Techron at Service Stations in U.S. |date=August 15, 2005 |url=http://www.texaco.com/about/news_press_081505.asp |access-date=June 12, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081026092940/http://www.texaco.com/about/news_press_081505.asp |archive-date=October 26, 2008}} In 2007, Delek Benelux took over marketing activities for Chevron in Benelux, including 869 filling stations, mostly under the Texaco brand.{{cite web| url=http://www.delek-group.com/Content.aspx?Page=petroleum| title=Delek Petroleum, Ltd.| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081227145652/http://www.delek-group.com/Content.aspx?Page=petroleum| archive-date=2008-12-27| publisher=Delek Petroleum}} In 2010, Chevron ended retail operations in the Mid-Atlantic US, removing its brand from 450 stations in Delaware, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, New Jersey, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, Washington, D.C.{{cite news| url=http://www.cspnet.com/news/fuels/articles/eastern-withdrawal-chevron| title=Eastern Withdrawal for Chevron| first=Angel| last=Abcede| journal=CSP Magazine| date=December 7, 2009| access-date=July 29, 2012| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120722103759/http://www.cspnet.com/news/fuels/articles/eastern-withdrawal-chevron| archive-date=July 22, 2012| url-status=dead}}

Corporate headquarters

Prior to the merger with Chevron, Texaco's headquarters was a {{convert|750000|sqft|m2|adj=on}} building in Harrison, in Westchester County, New York, near White Plains.{{cite news|last=Brenner|first=Elsa|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/31/nyregion/in-business-morgan-stanley-seals-deal-on-texaco-headquarters.html|title=Morgan Stanley Seals Deal on Texaco Headquarters|work=The New York Times|date=March 31, 2002|access-date=April 16, 2021}}{{cite web |url=http://www.texaco.com/compinfo/contactus_main.htm |title=Contact Us|publisher=Texaco |access-date=April 16, 2021 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19981205180053/http://www.texaco.com/compinfo/contactus_main.htm |archive-date=December 5, 1998 }} In 2002, Chevron Corporation sold the former Texaco Headquarters to Morgan Stanley. Morgan Stanley bought the building and the surrounding {{convert|107|acre|km2}} for $42 million.

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.{{cite news|last=McGrath|first=Charles|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/26/garden/a-lunch-club-for-the-higherups.html|title=A Lunch Club for the Higher-Ups|work=The New York Times|date=May 26, 2005|access-date=April 16, 2021}}

Leadership

= President =

Joseph S. Cullinan, 1902–1913
Elgood C. Lufkin, 1913–1920
Amos L. Beaty, 1920–1926
Ralph C. Holmes, 1926–1933
William S. Rodgers, 1933–1944
Harry T. Klein, 1944–1952
John S. Leach, 1952–1953
Augustus C. Long, 1953–1956
James W. Foley, 1956–1963
J. Howard Rambin Jr, 1964
Marion J. Epley, 1965–1970
Maurice F. Granville, 1970–1971
John K. McKinley, 1971–1983
Alfred C. DeCrane Jr, 1983–1986
James W. Kinnear, 1987–1993

= Chairman of the Board =

Elgood C. Lufkin, 1920–1926
Amos L. Beaty, 1926–1927
Ralph C. Holmes, –1933
Charles B. Ames, 1933–1935
Torkild Rieber, 1935–1940
William S. Rodgers, 1944–1953
John S. Leach, 1953–1956
Augustus C. Long, 1956–1965
J. Howard Rambin Jr, 1965–1970
Marion J. Epley, 1970–1971
Maurice F. Granville, 1971–1980
John K. McKinley, 1980–1986
Alfred C. DeCrane Jr, 1987–1996
Peter I. Bijur, 1997–2001
Glenn F. Tilton, 2001

Sponsorships

=Sports=

File:mansell cart.jpg driving in the 1993 CART IndyCar World Series]]

File:Kenseth and Irwin at Dover 1998.jpg driving in the 1998 NASCAR Winston Cup]]

File:Ford Sierra RS 500 1.jpg Ford Sierra RS500 of Klaus Ludwig and Klaus Niedzwiedz. Eggenberger Motorsport won the 1987 WTCC Entrants Championship]]

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.{{Cite web |date=2008-08-19 |title=Texaco leaving Montoya, NASCAR at season's end |url=https://www.espn.com/racing/nascar/cup/news/story?id=3543171 |access-date=2022-08-15 |website=ESPN.com |language=en}}

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.{{Cite web |date=2001-10-03 |title=Q&A: Mario Andretti. {{!}} IndyCar {{!}} Crash |url=https://www.crash.net/indycar/news/13792/1/qa-mario-andretti |access-date=2024-03-21 |website=www.crash.net |language=en}}

In Formula One, Texaco sponsored the Team Lotus in 1972 and 1973, and McLaren from 1974 to 1978. The company returned to Grand Prix racing at a smaller scale in 1997, with their brands appearing on the Stewart SF01 car. Their association with the team and its successor, Jaguar Racing, continued until the end of 2001, in the same timeline they also sponsored ITV's Formula 1 Coverage.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

Texaco sponsored the Tom Walkinshaw Racing Rover Vitesse factory team at the 1985 and 1986 European Touring Car Championship (ETCC) under their Bastos brand, and the Ford Sierra RS500 factory cars entered by Eggenberger Motorsport in the 1987 World Touring Car Championship (plus the 1988 ETCC and other European-based championships). Texaco also sponsored cars in the 1987 World Rally Championship.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

From 1987 to 1993, Texaco was the major sponsor (through its Australian Caltex offshoot) Colin Bond Racing in Australian touring car racing, first with the Alfa Romeo 75 in 1987, then the Ford Sierra RS500 from 1988 to 1992 and then Toyota Corollas in 1993. From 2000 until 2007, it was title sponsor of Stone Brothers Racing with Russell Ingall winning the 2005 championship. In 2016, Caltex became title sponsor of the Triple Eight Race Engineering car of Craig Lowndes, having previously been an associate sponsor of the team.[https://autoaction.com.au/2017/05/16/craig-lowndes-continues-triple-eight Craig Lowndes continues with Triple Eight] Auto Action May 16, 2017

From 1984 to 1998, Texaco were the title sponsors of the main One Day International cricket tournament in England, the Texaco Trophy. It also sponsored the Texaco Cup, a football tournament for clubs of the British Isles.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

=Entertainment broadcast (music or comedy/variety)=

Texaco was long associated with the Metropolitan Opera as sole sponsor of its radio broadcasts for 63 years. It was identified as well with such entertainment legends as Ed Wynn, Fred Allen and Milton Berle (many of their shows were originally sponsored by Texaco – see Texaco Star Theatre, which includes the sponsorship lyrics of the opening theme: "We're the men of Texaco, We work from Maine to Mexico..."). Berle's program was broadcast in the same time slot as Fulton J. Sheen's religious program for a while, thus leading to Berle's oft-quoted quip, "We both have the same boss – Sky Chief!"{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

Texaco was also the sponsor of the weekly Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts, which air to this day since its inception in 1931.

In the 1930s, comedian Ed Wynn hosted a half hour stand-up comedy/variety show on the NBC Radio Network, billed as "The Texaco Fire Chief", a reference to its regular grade gasoline. This trend continued into the late 1940s, when Wynn was replaced by Milton Berle as television becoming the dominant medium. The title was changed to the 60-minute Texaco Star Theater, which was also broadcast on NBC.{{cite book |last1=Cross |first1=Mary |title=A Century of American Icons: 100 Products and Slogans from the 20th-Century Consumer Culture |date=2002 |publisher=Greenwood Press |isbn=978-0313314810 |access-date=4 September 2020 |url=https://archive.org/details/centuryofamerica00cros/page/109/ |pages=109–110}}

In a 1983 video for their song, Cruel Summer, members of girl group Bananarama are depicted as working as mechanics at a Texaco gas station.

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.{{cite journal |last1=Stephens |first1=Beth |title=The Amorality of Profit: Transnational Corporations and Human Rights. |journal=Berkeley Journal of International Law |date=2002 |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=45–90 |url=https://scholarship.law.berkeley.edu/bjil/|access-date=30 May 2019}}

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, dumped 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.{{cite web |title=The 'Amazon Chernobyl' Disaster in Ecuador |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NzMj8Dt3c8 |website=youtube.com |publisher=Dark Records |language=en |format=video |date=March 23, 2023}}

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{{cite news |url=http://www.greencar.com/article/nickel-metal-hybrid-batteries/ |title=5 Things You Need to Know About Nickel-Metal-Hybrid Batteries |last=Olvera |first=Jennifer |date=July 3, 2008 |work=GreenCar.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090126021744/http://www.greencar.com/article/nickel-metal-hybrid-batteries/ |archive-date=January 26, 2009}}{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/ovshinsky.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030417193400/http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/ovshinsky.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2003-04-17|title=Stanford Ovshinsky : Amorphous semiconductor materials|date=March 2000|work=Inventor of the Week}} 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.Roberson, J. (March 14, 2007) [http://oesa.org/publications/articledetail.php?articleId=6528 "Supplier Cobasys exploring more hybrid batteries"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101205090036/http://oesa.org/publications/articledetail.php?articleId=6528 |date=2010-12-05 }} Detroit Free Press