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ARCO

From Alfawiki
Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO)
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryPetroleum
Founded1966; 60 years ago (1966)
FounderRobert Orville Anderson (as CEO at merger)
FateAcquired by BP Amoco in 2000; retail brand rights sold to Marathon Petroleum (outside CA, OR, WA)
Headquarters
Los Angeles, California (former headquarters)
,
United States
Area served
United States, Mexico
Key people
Robert Orville Anderson (founding CEO)
ProductsFuel stations, petroleum products
OwnerMarathon Petroleum (brand outside CA, OR, WA), BP (brand in CA, OR, WA)
ParentBP plc (until 2012 for some assets)

ARCO () is a brand of fuel stations currently owned by Marathon Petroleum. While BP retains ownership and operates the brand in California, Oregon, and Washington, Marathon holds the rights to use the ARCO name across the remainder of the United States and in Mexico.

The company originated in 1966 as the Atlantic Richfield Company, created through the merger of Atlantic Petroleum and Richfield Oil Corporation.

History

Between 1966 and 2000, Atlantic Richfield Company functioned as an independent American oil enterprise with operations spanning the United States, Indonesia, the North Sea, the South China Sea, and Mexico. In 1977, ARCO expanded into hard rock mining by acquiring Anaconda Copper Mining Company, a move that later led to enduring environmental responsibilities following mine closures in the early 1980s.

In 2000, BP Amoco purchased ARCO for $26.8 billion. Although most of ARCO’s operations were integrated into BP’s structure, its retail and marketing divisions were maintained as separate entities.

BP divested its Carson refinery, around 800 ARCO gas stations located in California, Arizona, and Nevada, along with ownership of the ARCO brand, selling these assets to Tesoro Corporation in 2012 for $2.5 billion. However, BP preserved an exclusive license to operate the ARCO brand in northern California, Oregon, and Washington, sourcing supply from its Cherry Point Refinery.

Atlantic Richfield Company remains a BP subsidiary responsible for managing environmental liabilities connected to former Anaconda mining sites.

Early Years

ARCO was established in 1966 through the consolidation of Atlantic Refining, based on the East Coast, and Richfield Oil Corporation from California; the company's name is a combination of these two entities. In 1969, Sinclair Oil Corporation was incorporated through another merger. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, ARCO consistently secured a position among the top 20 companies on the Fortune 500 list. Following organizational changes in the late 1980s and early 1990s, ARCO became a subsidiary of BP plc, headquartered in the United Kingdom, by way of BP West Coast Products LLC in 2000.

  • Atlantic Petroleum traces its origins to 1866, joined Standard Oil in 1874, and regained autonomy after Standard's dissolution in 1911.
  • The first Atlantic service station opened its doors in Pittsburgh in 1915.
  • Richfield Oil Company of California inaugurated its initial gas station in Los Angeles in 1917, featuring an eagle emblem.
  • Philadelphia served as the headquarters for Atlantic Refining.
  • Upon the 1966 merger, Robert Orville Anderson was appointed CEO; the ARCO red diamond logo was created by Bauhaus artist Herbert Bayer.
  • Commercial drilling operations commenced at Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, during the 1960s. The Prudhoe Bay Oil Field—North America's largest—was discovered jointly by ARCO and Exxon in 1968. Richfield held drilling rights at this site, while BP controlled adjacent areas.
  • ARCO acquired Sinclair Oil in 1969 but divested portions of its assets by the mid-1970s, allowing Sinclair to reemerge as an independent company.
  • In 1978, ARCO introduced the ampm convenience store chain across Southern California.

Developments in the 1980s

To minimize expenses related to credit card processing, ARCO discontinued its proprietary credit card system in 1982 and began accepting all major bank-issued cards such as Visa and MasterCard. This change enabled ARCO to reduce fuel prices by operating as the sole major gasoline retailer that accepted cash payments exclusively at its outlets.

In 1985, ARCO divested 400 service stations on the East Coast to Shell and sold an additional 576 stations along with a refinery located in Pennsylvania to Dutch trader John Deuss for $420 million; Deuss subsequently transferred these holdings to Sunoco for $513 million.

By 1986, ARCO started accepting bank ATM cards (later evolving into debit cards) at its stations with a nominal transaction fee while maintaining its cash-only pricing strategy.

The 1990s Era

During the early 1990s, ARCO’s subsidiary Advanced Power Technologies (APTI) served as the main contractor for the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP). Bernard Eastlund’s involvement led to widespread speculation regarding weather manipulation theories. In March 1997, following a price war that financially strained Thrifty Oil, ARCO leased almost all of Thrifty’s independently owned gas stations throughout California.

On July 5, 1990, a catastrophic explosion occurred at an ARCO Chemical Company facility located in Channelview, Texas, resulting in seventeen fatalities and five injuries.

Events in the 2000s

On April 18, 2000, BP completed its acquisition of ARCO and fully merged its operations. Due to Federal Trade Commission regulations, ARCO Alaska was sold to Phillips Petroleum; meanwhile, ARCO Pipe Line Company was acquired by TEPPCO Partners, a subsidiary under Enterprise Products.

Corporate Headquarters

From 1972 until 2000, ARCO’s global headquarters were situated at ARCO Plaza in Los Angeles at Fifth and Flower Streets—the former location of Richfield Tower. Upon completion, these twin towers briefly held the distinction as the tallest buildings within Los Angeles and were also recognized as the tallest twin towers worldwide until overtaken by New York’s World Trade Center. In 1986, ownership of the complex transferred from ARCO and Bank of America to Shuwa Investments Corp. for $650 million; however, ARCO remained a tenant until vacating in 1999. The building was renamed City National Plaza in 2005.

The Oil & Gas division of ARCO maintained its headquarters downtown Dallas, Texas, housed within the ARCO Tower—a 46-story office building designed by architect I.M. Pei—currently known as Energy Plaza.

Research Facility

Between the 1960s and the late 1990s, ARCO maintained a significant research and development hub located in Plano, Texas, on land obtained in 1964. Its most productive era occurred during the early to mid-1980s under the direction of Robert L. Hirsch. Among its noteworthy accomplishments was the groundbreaking 4D seismic survey conducted by Robert Greaves and Terry Fulp, which tracked changes in oil recovery over time. This technique later garnered acclaim from the Society of Exploration Geophysicists. The laboratory also fostered distinguished scientists including John Castagna, Michael Batzle, Geoffrey Dorn, and Marius Vassiliou. In subsequent years, the facility experienced significant downsizing and ultimately ceased operations shortly after ARCO's acquisition by BP in 2000.

ARCO Solar

Motivated by 1970s federal efforts to encourage renewable energy, ARCO ventured into photovoltaics by acquiring Solar Technology International in 1977. The company was rebranded as ARCO Solar and relocated to Camarillo. In 1982, ARCO established the world's inaugural photovoltaic central utility power plant—a one-megawatt installation near Hesperia. Despite this innovation, high operational costs and limited profitability led ARCO to seek a purchaser by 1989. The solar division was sold in 1990 to German firm Siemens for $36 million.

ARCO Chemical

ARCO Chemical Co. was spun off as a public entity in 1987, with ARCO divesting 19.9% of shares to public investors. Later, in 1998, Lyondell Chemical Company (now LyondellBasell) acquired ARCO Chemical by purchasing ARCO's remaining 82.2% stake for $5.6 billion.

Anaconda Copper

In 1977, ARCO merged with Montana-based Anaconda Copper Mining Company, which owned assets such as the Berkeley Pit and the Anaconda Smelter. ARCO founder Robert Orville Anderson aimed to utilize Anaconda's holdings for a shale-oil project; however, the oil surplus and price decline during the 1980s undermined this plan. The acquisition proved financially burdensome as ARCO lacked expertise in hard-rock mining, and a downturn in copper prices forced shutdowns at Butte, Montana operations. By 1983, activity at Berkeley Pit had ceased, and by 1986 some properties were sold to industrialist Dennis Washington, whose company operates a smaller nearby mine.

Superfund Site

ARCO bore responsibility for the largest Superfund site in the United States—the Berkeley Pit region encompassing Butte, Anaconda, and approximately 120 miles of the Clark Fork River—due to extensive contamination from mining and smelting activities. Pollutants included heavy metals and arsenic. After extended litigation with the EPA, ARCO agreed in 2008 to contribute $187 million toward natural resource restoration efforts. Although Anaconda Copper remains an existing corporate entity on paper, it continues to represent an environmental liability for BP.

Atlantic Richfield and BP America resolved a class-action lawsuit filed by roughly 700 residents near the Anaconda mine in Nevada through settlement payments totaling up to $19.5 million. EPA assessments in 2009 revealed hazardous uranium and arsenic concentrations in 79% of wells north of the mine site.

Legal Matters

In September 2010, KCST-FM based in Florence, Oregon reported that its Emergency Alert System (EAS) equipment repeatedly unmuted as if receiving alerts. The cause was traced to a commercial advertisement for ARCO/BP gasoline broadcast via KKNU in Springfield, Oregon, which incorporated a modified EAS header audio clip. This alteration reduced the header’s volume but unintentionally triggered false EAS activations across the country. After warnings from the Society of Broadcast Engineers, ARCO’s advertising agency withdrew the commercial from circulation.

Sports

Beginning in 1965, ARCO became the sponsor of the annual youth track event known as the ARCO Jesse Owens Games, which was established by Olympic champion Jesse Owens. In 1980, the company contributed to the 1984 Summer Olympics hosted in Los Angeles and played a role in funding renovations at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. By 1985, ARCO had acquired long-term naming rights for the Sacramento Kings' venues, namely the Original ARCO Arena and ARCO Arena. However, following BP’s acquisition of ARCO in 2000, these naming rights were not renewed when they expired in 2011.

Music

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, ARCO was a key sponsor of the ARCO Concerts in the Sky, an annual summer jazz series held at the Bonaventure Hotel located in downtown Los Angeles.

President

  1. Thornton F. Bradshaw, 1966–1981
  2. William F. Kieschnick Jr, 1981–1985
  3. Lodwrick M. Cook, 1985
  4. Robert E. Wycoff, 1986–1993
  5. Michael R. Bowlin, 1993–1998
  6. Michael E. Wiley, 1998–2000

Chairman of the Board

  1. Robert O. Anderson, 1966–1985
  2. Lodwrick M. Cook, 1986–1995
  3. Michael R. Bowlin, 1995–2000

ARCO service station brand

Currently owned by Marathon Petroleum, the ARCO brand operates gasoline service stations across both the United States and Mexico. In the states of Northern California, Oregon, and Washington, BP retains exclusive licensing rights to market gasoline under the ARCO name.

Outside of BP’s licensed territories in the Northwest, independent operators can adopt the ARCO brand through Marathon’s distribution network. The brand encompasses over 1,300 fueling stations throughout the western United States and has recently expanded its presence into northwestern Mexico.

History

After Atlantic Richfield Company acquired Sinclair Oil in 1969, ARCO was formed by consolidating three service brands into a single identity through a $60 million rebranding initiative.

Between 2004 and 2005, ARCO signage was refreshed to feature BP’s Helios sunburst logo alongside the slogan "ARCO—part of BP." The brand also maintained sponsorship of Sacramento’s ARCO Arena with an annual licensing arrangement valued at $750,000 through 2007.

On August 13, 2012, Tesoro Corporation announced its intent to purchase ARCO and its refinery for $2.5 billion amid concerns that reduced competition might lead to higher fuel prices. The transaction was finalized on June 3, 2013, transferring ownership of ARCO and the Carson Refinery to Tesoro. Concurrently, BP sold Southern California terminals and the ampm convenience store brand to Tesoro Logistics LP but retained licensing rights for ARCO branding in Northern California, Oregon, and Washington.

ARCO’s business model emphasized affordable gasoline prices by implementing cost-saving policies such as accepting only cash or debit payments and generating revenue from affiliated ampm convenience stores. The company’s headquarters is located in La Palma, California.

In 2017, following Tesoro’s rebranding as Andeavor, ARCO stations were introduced into Mexico after market deregulation ended Pemex's monopoly. Additionally, Andeavor converted several SuperAmerica locations in the Upper Midwest to ARCO branding during 2018.

Marathon Petroleum acquired Andeavor in 2018 and preserved the ARCO brand while rebranding other former Andeavor stations as Marathon or Speedway. Stations owned by BP either retained their ARCO branding or were converted to Amoco due to licensing agreements. After the merger, Marathon extended ARCO’s reach into Eastern U.S. markets for the first time since 1985 but divested Speedway to 7-Eleven in 2020.

In 2021, ARCO reinstated acceptance of credit card payments and initiated a marketing campaign to notify customers about this update.

See also

External links

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