The Oil Drum | 150 Years of Plenitude: The Story of Oil

The Oil Drum | 150 Years of Plenitude: The Story of Oil

Standard Oil Breakup

n 1911, Standard Oil was split by anti-monopoly legislation into several competing firms. Esso (“S. O.” for Standard Oil), which later became Exxon, remains the most well known of the Standard Oil children.

That just barely scratches the surface. In addition to Std. Oil of NJ (=ESSO, =Exxon), you had:

Std. Oil of NY (=SOCONY, +Vacuum = SOCONY Vacuum, =SOCONY Mobil, =Mobil)

Std Oil of Ohio (=SOHIO, merged with BP)

Std Oil of Indiana (=AMOCO, merged with BP)

Std Oil of Calif. (=SoCal, =Chevron)

Atlatic (+ Richfield = Atlantic Richfield, =ARCO)

Continental Oil Co (=CONOCO)

Ohio Oil Co (=Marathon)

South Penn Oil Co (=Pennzoil)

This is by no means a complete list, there were many other smaller units that were eventually absorbed by larger companies, mostly one of the above. For a more complete list, see The Wikipedia article.