Amoco

"American Oil Company" redirects here. For other uses, see Standard Oil (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with AAMCO or Aramco.
Amoco Corporation
Amoco; Standard; and American
Formerly
  • Standard Oil Company of Indiana (1911–1985)[1]
  • Amoco Corporation (1985–1998)
Company typePublic
NYSE: AN (1985-1998)
IndustryFuel
PredecessorStandard Oil
Founded1889, as part of the Standard Oil Trust
FounderJohn D. Rockefeller
DefunctDecember 31, 1998 (1998-12-31)
FateMerged with BP, becoming a brand, but resurfaced in 2017 selling BP fuel.
SuccessorBP Amoco
HeadquartersAmoco Building,
Chicago, Illinois
WebsiteArchived official website at the Wayback Machine (archived February 12, 1998)

Amoco (/ˈæməkoʊ/ AM-ə-koh) is a brand of fuel stations operating in the United States and owned by British conglomerate BP since 1998. The Amoco Corporation was an American chemical and oil company, founded by Standard Oil Company in 1889 around a refinery in Whiting, Indiana, and was officially the Standard Oil Company of Indiana until 1985. In 1911, it became an independent corporation as part of the break-up of the Standard Oil trust. Incorporated in Indiana, it was headquartered in Chicago.

In 1925, Standard Oil of Indiana absorbed the American Oil Company,[1] founded in Baltimore in 1910, and incorporated in 1922, by Louis Blaustein and his son Jacob. The combined corporation operated or licensed gas stations under both the Standard name and the American or Amoco name (the latter from American oil company) and its logo using these names became a red, white and blue oval with a torch in the center. By the mid-twentieth century it was ranked the largest oil company in the United States. In 1985, it changed its corporate name to Amoco.[2]

The firm's innovations included two essential parts of the modern industry, the gasoline tanker truck and the drive-through filling station.[3] Its "Amoco Super-Premium" lead-free gasoline was marketed decades before environmental concerns led to the eventual phase out of leaded gasoline throughout the United States. Amoco's headquarters were located in the Amoco Building (also called the Standard Oil Building, and nicknamed "Big Stan", now the Aon Center) in Chicago, Illinois.[4]

Amoco merged with British Petroleum in December 1998 to form BP Amoco, which was renamed BP in 2001.[5] The Amoco name was branded at the gas pump for the highest 93 octane blends. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010 tarnished the BP brand in the US resulting in a rethinking of US branding. In October 2017, BP announced reintroduction of the Amoco branded stations to select US markets.[6] As of 2023, there were over 600 new Amoco stations in the eastern and midwestern United States.[7]

  1. ^ a b History of the Standard Oil Co. on Garage Art
  2. ^ Rosenheim, Daniel (April 24, 1985). "Goodbye, Standard; Hello, Amoco Corp". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2019-08-28.
  3. ^ Leffall, J (1998). "Huge Amoco began small in Baltimore; Roots: The metered gas pump, no-knock gasoline and other innovations followed Louis Blaustein's founding of American Oil Co. in 1910". The Baltimore Sun. p. 1.C. Retrieved 2013-11-21.
  4. ^ "Contacts." Amoco. February 12, 1998. Retrieved on March 31, 2010.
  5. ^ Oller, Samantha (October 11, 2017). "What's Behind Amoco's Return?". CSP Daily News. Retrieved 2024-10-23.
  6. ^ Rocco, Matthew (10 October 2017). "Amoco gas stations are coming back". Fox Business. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  7. ^ "Amoco | Products and services | Home".