Phillips 66 history

The first Phillips 66 service station built in Texas opened on July 27, 1928, on the corner of 5th and Main streets in Turkey, Texas.

The Phillips 66 shield logo, linking it to United States Route 66, was introduced in 1930 in a black and orange color scheme that would last nearly thirty years.

The 76 brand, long familiar in the western and southern United States, was created by Union Oil Company of California (later Unocal) in 1932.

Industry expansion slowed as the federal government sought to limit oil production, and the Interstate Oil Compact Commission (1935) sought to bring efficiency and stability to the industry.

Also a major supplier of natural gas to interstate pipelines, in 1942 the company purchased more than 250,000 acres in the Hugoton-Panhandle gas field and soon thereafter purchased a 25 percent interest in Panhandle Eastern Pipe Line Company.

A Phillips Petroleum Co. gasoline station, circa 1945(21412.B18.123, Z. P. Meyers/Barney Hillerman Photographic Collection, OHS).

The company continued to grow, founding subsidiary Phillips Chemical Company in 1948.

Later, in 1951, Phillips invented polyethylene plastics and discovered and developed a new process to produce high-density polyethylene resins, launching Phillips’ entry into the plastics business.

Phillips was among the first oil companies to introduce a multi-grade motor oil, "TropArtic," in 1954.

In Alaska it participated in an exploration and production project at Cook Inlet in 1962 and also at Prudhoe Bay on the North Slope.

In 1967, Phillips became the nation's second oil company, after Texaco, to sell and market gasoline in all 50 states, by opening a Phillips 66 station in Anchorage, Alaska.

By 1972, Conoco had diversified into coal, chemicals, plastics, fertilizers and minerals.

In 1973, Phillips began billing itself as "The Performance Company," promoting innovations with asphaltic materials, fertilizers, and other non-automotive products as well as its traditional automotive products.

In 1981, DuPont acquired Conoco after a heated takeover battle, and Conoco became a wholly owned DuPont subsidiary.

Robert Finney, Phillips, The First 66 Years (Bartlesville, Okla.: Phillips Petroleum Co., 1983).

Michael Wallis, Oil Man: The Story of Frank Phillips and the Birth of Phillips Petroleum (New York: Doubleday, 1988).

In 2001 it acquired Tosco Corporation, known for its 76 brand gasoline and Circle K convenience stores.

Also in 2006, ConocoPhillips completed the acquisition of a partial interest in the planned 1,663-mile Rockies Express Pipeline (REX) project.

Phillips 66 was founded on April 30, 2012 and is headquartered in Houston, TX.“

On December 30, 2013, it was announced that Berkshire Hathaway would trade more than 19 million of its 27.2 million shares in Phillips 66 to acquire a business that makes additives that help crude oil flow through pipelines.