Murphy Oil Corporation is a company engaged in

hydrocarbon exploration Hydrocarbon exploration (or oil and gas exploration) is the search by petroleum geologists and geophysicists for deposits of hydrocarbons, particularly petroleum and natural gas, in the Earth using petroleum geology. Exploration methods Vis ...

headquartered in Houston, Texas. The company is ranked 625th on the Fortune 500 and 1860th on the Forbes Global 2000. As of December 31, 2020, the company had of estimated proved reserves, of which 51% was

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 ...

, 42% was

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...

, and 7% was

natural gas liquids Natural-gas condensate, also called natural gas liquids, is a low-density mixture of hydrocarbon liquids that are present as gaseous components in the raw natural gas produced from many natural gas fields. Some gas species within the raw natur ...

. The company's developed reserves are in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. The company also has undeveloped reserves in Australia,

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Brunei Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely surrounded by t ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, and

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

. In the United States, the company's reserves are primarily in the

Eagle Ford Group The Eagle Ford Group (also called the Eagle Ford Shale) is a sedimentary rock formation deposited during the Cenomanian and Turonian ages of the Late Cretaceous over much of the modern-day state of Texas. The Eagle Ford is predominantly c ...

area of South Texas and in the deepwater

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...

. The company's Canadian operations are mostly

heavy crude oil Heavy crude oil (or extra heavy crude oil) is highly-viscous oil that cannot easily flow from production wells under normal reservoir conditions. It is referred to as "heavy" because its density or specific gravity is higher than that of light cru ...

projects in the

Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin The Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin (WCSB) underlies of Western Canada including southwestern Manitoba, southern Saskatchewan, Alberta, northeastern British Columbia and the southwest corner of the Northwest Territories. This vast sedimentary ...

. Of the company's 2020 production of per day, 59% was

, 5% was

, and 36% was

History

The company was founded in 1944 as CH Murphy & Co by Charles H. Murphy Sr. and incorporated in Louisiana in 1950. Mason Houghland opened the first Spur gas station in

Old Hickory, Tennessee Old Hickory is a neighborhood of metropolitan Nashville located in the Hadley Bend section of eastern Davidson County, Tennessee. Etymology Old Hickory is named in honor of President Andrew Jackson, nicknamed "Old Hickory." History Old Hickory ...

in 1928. After

Wilhelm von Opel Wilhelm von Opel (15 May 1871 – 2 May 1948), known as Wilhelm Opel before being ennobled in 1917, was one of the founders of the German automobile manufacturer Opel. He introduced the assembly line to the German automobile industry. His fathe ...

invested in the company, it became a chain, with 275 locations and annual sales of $40 million. In 1957, an appeals court ruled that von Opel's son

Fritz von Opel Fritz Adam Hermann von Opel (4 May 1899 – 8 April 1971) was a German rocket technology pioneer and automotive executive, nicknamed "Rocket-Fritz". He is remembered mostly for his spectacular demonstrations of rocket propulsion that earned him an ...

was not entitled to the share of Spur Oil Company his father had owned. Houghland bought the shares and Equitable Securities handled the

public offering A public offering is the offering of securities of a company or a similar corporation to the public. Generally, the securities are to be listed on a stock exchange. In most jurisdictions, a public offering requires the issuing company to publish a ...

. Equitable arranged the merger of Spur Oil Company with Murphy shortly after Houghland's death in 1959. Murphy entered the Malaysia market in 1999 after a purchase of three offshore blocks, solidifying its position as a player in the offshore development space. The first discovery in this area, the West Patricia prospect, was announced in 2001 and followed by a significant discovery in the Kikeh in 2002 (went into production by 2007). In 2003, the company acquired acreage offshore Republic of Congo. In 2004, the company sold oil fields in

Western Canada Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces, Canadian West or the Western provinces of Canada, and commonly known within Canada as the West, is a Canadian region that includes the four western provinces just north of the Canada� ...

for US$633 million. In July 2011, the company sold its refinery in Superior, Wisconsin, to Calumet for $214 million. In September 2011, the company sold its refinery in Meraux, Louisiana, to

Valero Energy Valero Energy Corporation is a Fortune 500 international manufacturer and marketer of transportation fuels, other petrochemical products, and power. It is headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, United States. Throughout the United States and Ca ...

for $325 million. In August 2013, the company distributed 100% of the shares in its retail marketing gasoline station chain,

Murphy USA Murphy USA is an American corporation based in El Dorado, Arkansas operating a chain of retail gas stations that are primarily located in proximity to Walmart stores. It was founded as a spin-off of Murphy Oil in 2013. In 2018, it was ranked 27 ...

, to its shareholders via a

corporate spin-off A corporate spin-off, also known as a spin-out, or starburst or hive-off, is a type of corporate action where a company "splits off" a section as a separate business or creates a second incarnation, even if the first is still active. Characte ...

. In 2016, the company sold its 5% stake in Syncrude Canada Ltd., a joint venture located about 25 miles north of

Fort McMurray, Alberta Fort McMurray ( ) is an urban service area in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo in Alberta, Canada. It is located in northeast Alberta, in the middle of the Athabasca oil sands, surrounded by boreal forest. It has played a significan ...

, for C$937 million. In 2017, the company acquired acreage offshore Brazil. In July 2019, Murphy sold its assets in Malaysia to PTT Exploration and Production for $2.035 billion. In May 2020, the company relocated to

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

and closed several offices.

El Dorado Promise

In January 2007, Murphy announced that it would set aside $50 million to ensure that every student graduating from the El Dorado, Arkansas, school system would be able to afford college. The scholarship, which requires that students spend a certain number of years in the El Dorado school system and maintain a 2.0 grade point average while in college, pays tuition and all mandatory fees for students, up to the highest annual rate charged by an Arkansas public university. Scholarship amounts are paid based on length of attendance in the El Dorado Public School District. For example, graduates who attend all 13 years at El Dorado Public Schools will receive 100% of the scholarship.

Legal issues

In August 2005, during Hurricane Katrina, an oil storage tank at the Murphy Oil refinery in Meraux, Louisiana, floated off its foundation and released more than one million gallons of crude oil into Meraux and Chalmette. A class-action lawsuit against Murphy Oil ended in a settlement in 2009; the company was required to pay $330 million to 6,200 claimants, including owners of about 1,800 affected residential properties in

St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana St. Bernard Parish (french: Paroisse de Saint-Bernard; es, Parroquia de San Bernardo) is a parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat and largest community is Chalmette. The parish was formed in 1807. St. Bernard Parish is part of t ...

. In 2007, following a

benzene Benzene is an organic chemical compound with the molecular formula C6H6. The benzene molecule is composed of six carbon atoms joined in a planar ring with one hydrogen atom attached to each. Because it contains only carbon and hydrogen atoms ...

leak in Louisiana, Murphy Oil was fined $395,313 in civil penalties plus $1.5 million for cleanup costs by the US EPA. The case was settled in April 2019.

References

External links

{{Authority control Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange Oil companies of the United States Companies based in Houston Automotive fuel retailers Non-renewable resource companies established in 1944 Energy companies established in 1944 Gas stations in the United States 1944 establishments in Louisiana