Standard Oil Company and Trust

Standard Oil Company and Trust

U.S. company and corporate trust that held a near monopoly over the U.S. oil industry from 1870 to 1911. The company originated in 1863, when John D. Rockefeller started a Cleveland, Ohio, refining firm, which, with other facilities, was incorporated as the Standard Oil Company in 1870. By 1880, through elimination of competitors, mergers, and use of favourable railroad rebates, it controlled the refining of 90–95% of all oil produced in the U.S. In 1882 Standard Oil and affiliated oil companies were combined in the Standard Oil Trust, which eventually included some 40 corporations. In 1892 the Ohio Supreme Court ordered the trust dissolved, but it continued to operate from headquarters in New York and later New Jersey. Its monopolistic practices were exposed in Ida Tarbell's History of the Standard Oil Company (1904), and after a lengthy antitrust suit by the U.S. government (see antitrust law), the Standard Oil empire was broken up in 1911. Although eight companies retained “Standard Oil” in their names after 1911, by the late 20th century the name had all but disappeared, even though former Standard Oil divisions continued to dominate the U.S. petroleum business. In 1931 Standard Oil Company of New York merged with Vacuum Oil Company (another trust company) to form Socony-Vacuum, which in 1966 became Mobil Oil Corp. Standard Oil (Indiana) absorbed Standard Oil of Nebraska in 1939 and Standard Oil of Kansas in 1948 and was renamed Amoco Corp. in 1985. Standard Oil of California acquired Standard Oil of Kentucky in 1961 and was renamed Chevron Corp. in 1984. Standard Oil Company (New Jersey) changed its name to Exxon Corp. in 1972. In 1987 British Petroleum Company PLC (BP) completed the purchase of Standard Oil Company (Ohio). Further consolidation occurred in 1998, when BP merged with Amoco, and in 2002, when Exxon merged with Mobil.