Tosco Corporation
 |
|
| Industry | petroleum |
|---|---|
| Fate | Merged with Phillips Petroleum (ConocoPhillips) |
| Founded | 1955 in Santa Monica, California |
Tosco (The Oil Shale COrporation) was an independent US based petroleum refining and marketing corporation. It was founded in 1955 in Santa Monica, California by A&P heir Huntington Hartford, and originally focused on extracting oil from oil shale and developing alternative energy sources.
In 1964 Tosco, Standard Oil of Ohio, and Cleveland Cliffs Iron Company formed Colony Development, a joint venture company to develop the Colony Oil Shale Project in Colorado 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, and other west coast facilities from Phillips Petroleum, making it a major player in petroleum refining. The company continued its efforts in oil shale extraction until May 2, 1982 when Exxon (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.
A major company reorganization followed in 1983. Several takeover bids during the 1980s failed to materialize, and another major reorganization took place in 1991 with the company moving its headquarters to Stamford, Connecticut.
...
Wikipedia