Tosco (from "The Oil Shale Corporation") was an independent US-based

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil or simply oil, is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid chemical mixture found in geological formations, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons. The term ''petroleum'' refers both to naturally occurring un ...

refining and marketing corporation based in

Stamford, Connecticut Stamford () is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, outside of New York City. It is the sixth-most populous city in New England. Stamford is also the largest city in the Western Connecticut Planning Region, Connecticut, Weste ...

. It was founded in 1955 in

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

by A&P heir Huntington Hartford, and originally focused on extracting oil from

oil shale Oil shale is an organic-rich Granularity, fine-grained sedimentary rock containing kerogen (a solid mixture of Organic compound, organic chemical compounds) from which liquid hydrocarbons can be produced. In addition to kerogen, general compos ...

and developing

alternative energy Renewable energy (also called green energy) is energy made from renewable resource, renewable natural resources that are replenished on a human lifetime, human timescale. The most widely used renewable energy types are solar energy, wind pow ...

sources. Tom O'Malley bought a quarter of the business and assumed the CEO role in 1989. He built TOSCO into the largest independent refiner in the United States prior to merging the company into Phillips 66 in 2001.

History

In 1964 Tosco,

Standard Oil of Ohio The Standard Oil Company (Ohio) was an American petroleum industry, petroleum company that existed from 1870 to 1987. The company, known commonly as Sohio, was founded by John D. Rockefeller. It was established as one of the separate entities cre ...

, and Cleveland Cliffs Iron Company formed Colony Development, a joint venture company to develop the Colony Oil Shale Project in

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

and to commercialize the TOSCO II technology. In 1969, ARCO joined the project. The project was ended in April 1972. In 1976 the company name was shortened to Tosco after the company acquired the Avon Refinery in

Martinez, California Martinez (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Martínez'') is a city in and the county seat of Contra Costa County, California, United States, in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Located on the southern shore of the Carquinez Strai ...

, and other west coast facilities from

Phillips Petroleum Phillips Petroleum Company was an American oil company incorporated in 1917 that expanded into petroleum refining, marketing and transportation, natural gas gathering and the chemicals sectors. It was Phillips Petroleum that first found oil in th ...

, making it a major player in petroleum refining. The company continued its efforts in oil shale extraction until May 2, 1982, when

Exxon Exxon Mobil Corporation ( ) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston. Founded as the largest direct successor of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, the modern company was form ...

(which had bought Atlantic Richfield's 60% share in the project in 1980) pulled out of the Colony Project joint venture, leaving Tosco unable to keep the venture viable in spite of a $1.1 million loan guarantee from the U.S. government. Exxon claimed the project's projected $6 billion price tag made the project no longer feasible, but Exxon was required to purchase Tosco's 40% share in the project as a result of their withdrawal. Tosco Refinery near Ferndale WA

A major company reorganization followed in 1983. Several takeover bids during the 1980s failed to materialize, and another major reorganization took place in 1987, with Tom O'Malley purchasing a 26% equity position, assuming the chairmanship, and later moving the company's headquarters to

. In 1996, Tosco acquired the

Circle K Circle K Stores, Inc. is a Canadian-American chain of convenience stores headquartered in Tempe, Arizona, and owned by Alimentation Couche-Tard, Alimentation Couche-Tard, Inc., based in Laval, Quebec. Founded in 1951 in El Paso, Texas, the comp ...

chain of

convenience store A convenience store, convenience shop, bakkal, bodega, corner store, corner shop, superette or mini-mart is a small retail store that stocks a range of everyday items such as convenience food, groceries, beverages, tobacco products, lotter ...

s. In 1997, Tosco bought the rights to the Union 76 brand of

gas station A filling station (also known as a gas station [] or petrol station []) is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold are gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel. Fuel dispensers are used to ...

s and the western United States refining and marketing operations from Unocal. Tosco merged with Phillips Petroleum in 2001. Phillips merged with

Conoco Conoco ( ), formerly known as Continental Oil, is an American Petroleum industry, petroleum brand that is operating under the current ownership of the Phillips 66 Company since 2012 and is headquartered in the Westchase, Houston, Westchase neigh ...

in 2002 to become

ConocoPhillips ConocoPhillips Company is an American multinational corporation engaged in hydrocarbon exploration and production. It is based in the Energy Corridor district of Houston, Texas. The company has operations in 15 countries and has production in t ...

, who spun off the Circle K stores to Canadian-based

Alimentation Couche-Tard Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc., or simply Couche-Tard, is a Canadian multinational operator of convenience stores. The company operates approximately 16,700 stores across Canada, the United States of America, United States, Mexico, Ireland, Norway ...

1999 refinery accident

On February 23, 1999, four workers at the Avon Refinery in Concord were burned to death after they tried to replace a leaky oil pipe. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that one Tosco employee, Anthony Creggett, claimed shortly after the fire that plant managers had refused a request by four workers to shut down the high-temperature distillation tower during the repairs on the pipe.

2001 refinery fire

In spring 2001, local gas prices spiked after a fire at a Tosco plant in Carson, California, south of Los Angeles, that released toxic smoke visible 90 miles away.

References

{{Authority control Defunct oil companies of the United States Oil shale companies of the United States ConocoPhillips Union Oil Company of California 1955 establishments in California Non-renewable resource companies established in 1955 Defunct companies based in Connecticut Companies disestablished in 2001 2001 disestablishments in California Companies based in Stamford, Connecticut