The Magnolia Petroleum Company was an early twentieth-century

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 ...

company in

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. The company was established in 1911, being later acquired by the

Standard Oil of New York Mobil Oil Corporation, now known as just Mobil, is a petroleum brand owned and operated by American oil and gas corporation ExxonMobil, formerly known as Exxon, which took its current name after it and Mobil merged in 1999. A direct descenda ...

, which operated it as a wholly-owned

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company (law), company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidia ...

until its demise in 1959.

History

The company was founded on April 24, 1911, by John H. Sealy, who named the company after his favorite aunt, Magnolia Sealy. This was part of his investment diversification following the Spindletop gusher in January 1901. The company began with the purchase of the Navarro Oil company (former J. S. Cullinan Company), including its refinery in the

East Texas Oil Field The East Texas Oil Field is a large oil reservoir, oil and gas field in east Texas. Covering and parts of five counties, and having 30,340 historic and active oil wells, it is the second-largest oil field in the United States outside Alaska, a ...

, and the Security Oil company. Magnolia became a consolidation of several other companies operating in the Corsicana oil fields.

("Socony") exchanged its stock for all of the Magnolia stock (except seven shares for the Directors) in December 1925 though it continued to operate as an affiliate of Socony. The firm then merged with

Vacuum Oil Company Vacuum Oil Company was an American petroleum, oil company. After being taken over by the original Standard Oil Company and then becoming independent again, in 1931 Vacuum Oil merged with the Mobil, Standard Oil Company of New York to form Socony ...

in 1931, becoming "Socony-Vacuum Oil Company". 1st Visitor Center P6190094

Magnolia Petroleum continued to operate as a

of Socony-Vacuum. In 1959, Magnolia was fully incorporated into the Mobil division of Socony-Vacuum, which later changed its name to 'Socony Mobil' and, ultimately to

Mobil Oil Corporation Mobil Oil Corporation, now known as just Mobil, is a petroleum brand owned and operated by American oil and gas corporation ExxonMobil, formerly known as Exxon, which took its current name after it and Mobil merged in 1999. A direct descenda ...

. In 1999, Mobil merged with

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 ...

to form

ExxonMobil Exxon Mobil Corporation ( ) is an American multinational List of oil exploration and production companies, oil and gas corporation headquartered in Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston. Founded as the Successors of Standard Oil, largest direct s ...

, one of the largest oil companies in the world. Preferred Magnolia stock was eventually converted to ExxonMobil stock, making the Sealy family (John Sealy Estate, Sealy Foundation) some of the largest shareholders of ExxonMobil. The acquisition proved to be one of the most important mergers that brought the majors in to develop the Corsican and Beaumont area into one of the largest refineries in the world. The emblem of Magnolia Petroleum Company was originally a magnolia blossom. When Socony merged with Vacuum in 1931, Socony-Vacuum as well as Magnolia began using Vacuum's Brand of ‘Flying Red Horse’ petroleum products a.k.a. red

Pegasus Pegasus (; ) is a winged horse in Greek mythology, usually depicted as a white stallion. He was sired by Poseidon, in his role as horse-god, and foaled by the Gorgon Medusa. Pegasus was the brother of Chrysaor, both born from Medusa's blood w ...

logo, as well as the Mobil name for its products (Mobilgas, Mobiloil, etc.). In 1924, Magnolia Petroleum launched Beaumont's first radio station, KFDM ("Kall For Dependable Magnolene"), which would be leased to the Sabine Broadcasting Company in 1932 and sold to the Beaumont Broadcasting Corporation in 1937. KFDM broadcast at 315.6 metres (c. 950 kHz) on Tuesday and Friday evenings, with religious services heard Sunday morning and evening. (accessed 6/7/2024) An unrelated Oklahoma-based company of the same name has been operating since 2008.

References

* Defunct oil companies of the United States Petroleum in Texas 1910s in Texas Energy companies established in 1911 Non-renewable resource companies established in 1911 Non-renewable resource companies disestablished in 1959 1911 establishments in Texas 1959 disestablishments in Texas Defunct companies based in Texas Former ExxonMobil subsidiaries 1925 mergers and acquisitions {{petroleum-company-stub

History

See also

References