Superior Oil Company

The Superior Oil Company
Company typePublic
IndustryPetroleum
Founded1921 (1921)
FounderWilliam Myron Keck
Defunct1984; 40 years ago (1984)
FateAcquired by Mobil
HeadquartersThe Superior Oil Company Building,
Los Angeles, California

The Superior Oil Company was an American oil company founded in 1921 in Coalinga, California, by William Myron Keck,[1][2] Superior Oil began as a drilling contracting firm and grew into the exploration and production of oil and natural gas.[1][3] In 1930 the company was the first to successfully use directional drilling in California.[4] Moving to Houston, Texas.[5]

By 1931 the company had wells in Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Louisiana and Venezuela.[6] In 1938, the company constructed the first offshore oil platform off the coast of Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico.[4] In the 1970s, Superior Oil was involved in the oil shale industry developing the Superior multimineral process.[7] In September 1984 the company, then based in Houston, became a wholly owned subsidiary of Mobil.[8] The company was sold to Mobil Corporation in 1984, merging into it.

  1. ^ a b "Biography of William Myron Keck". W. M. Keck Foundation. Archived from the original on 2009-06-11. Retrieved 2009-07-04.
  2. ^ "2000 Annual Report" (PDF). W. M. Keck Foundation. p. 2. Retrieved 2009-07-04.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference GOMR was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference WMKECK was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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