Tosco (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 mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...

refining and marketing corporation based in

Stamford, Connecticut Stamford () is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut, outside of Manhattan. It is Connecticut's second-most populous city, behind Bridgeport. With a population of 135,470, Stamford passed Hartford and New Haven in population as of the 2020 ...

. 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 George Huntington Hartford II (April 18, 1911 – May 19, 2008) was an American businessman, philanthropist, stage and film producer, and art collector. He was also heir to the A&P supermarket fortune. After his father's death in 1922, Hartfor ...

, and originally focused on extracting oil from

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

and developing

alternative energy Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a Orders of magnitude (time), human timescale. It includes sources such as Solar power, sunlight, wind power, wind, the movement of Hydropo ...

sources.

History

In 1964 Tosco,

Standard Oil of Ohio The Standard Oil Company (Ohio) was an American oil company, a successor of the original company established in 1870 by John D. Rockefeller. It was established as "Standard Oil Company of Ohio" as one of the separate entities created after the ...

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

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

and to commercialize the TOSCO II technology. In 1969,

ARCO ARCO ( ) is a brand of gasoline stations currently owned by Marathon Petroleum after BP sold its rights. BP commercializes the brand in Northern California, Oregon and Washington, while Marathon has rights for the rest of the United States an ...

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 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 Strait, t ...

, 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 the ...

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

Exxon ExxonMobil Corporation (commonly shortened to Exxon) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is the largest direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and was formed on November 30, ...

(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 1991 with the company moving its headquarters to

. In 1996, Tosco acquired the

Circle K Circle K Stores, Inc. is a Canadian chain of convenience stores headquartered in Laval, Quebec, Canada. It is owned by the multinational company Couche-Tard. Founded in 1951 in El Paso, Texas, the company filed for bankruptcy protection in 1 ...

chain of

convenience store A convenience store, convenience shop, corner store or corner shop is a small retail business that stocks a range of everyday items such as coffee, groceries, snack foods, confectionery, soft drinks, ice creams, tobacco products, lottery ticket ...

s. In 1997, Tosco bought the rights to the

Union 76 76 (formerly Union 76) is a chain of gas stations located within the United States. The 76 brand is owned by Phillips 66. Unocal, the original owner and creator of the 76 brand, merged with Chevron Corporation in 2005. History The Union O ...

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 in the 2010s were gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel. Gasoline ...

s and the western United States refining and marketing operations from

Unocal Union Oil Company of California, and its holding company Unocal Corporation, together known as Unocal was a major petroleum explorer and marketer in the late 19th century, through the 20th century, and into the early 21st century. It was headqu ...

. Tosco merged with Phillips Petroleum in 2001. Phillips merged with

Conoco Conoco Inc. ( ) was an American oil and gas company that operated from 1875 until 2002, when it merged with Phillips Petroleum to form ConocoPhillips. Founded by Isaac Elder Blake in 1875 as the "Continental Oil and Transportation Company". Curr ...

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 ...

, 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 has 15,000 stores across Canada, the United States, Mexico, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuani ...

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