Texaco

Texaco’s predecessor, the Texas Fuel Company, was incorporated in Beaumont, Texas, in March 1901 to buy and transport oil from the Spindletop field.⁠[1]

In 1902 oilman Joseph S. Cullinan and New York investor Arnold Schlaet founded the Texas Company at Sour Lake; it was chartered in April that year with initial capital of $3 million. The Sour Lake (1903) and Humble (1905) fields gave the company its financial base. The name “Texaco” was used for one of its lubricant products as early as 1902.⁠[1]

In 1905 the company built its first refinery at Port Arthur, connected by about ninety miles of pipeline; in 1908 it completed a pipeline from Oklahoma’s Glenn Pool field. Its headquarters moved from Beaumont to Houston in 1908, it opened its first service station in Houston in 1911, and in 1913, under new president Elgood C. Lufkin, top management relocated to New York.⁠[1][2]

In August 1926 the company chartered the Texas Corporation as a Delaware holding company, and in January 1927 the Texas Company was rechartered in Delaware as an operating company. After acquiring California Petroleum Corporation in 1928, it became the first oil company to market refined products in all of the then forty-eight states.⁠[1]

In 1936 the company formed a Middle East exploration venture with Standard Oil CompanyStandard OilStandard Oil was an oil company founded in 1870 in Cleveland, Ohio, by John D. Rockefeller and others. Through mergers and expansion, and organizational forms including the trust of 1882 and the New Jersey holding company of 1899, it at one time controlled most of the refining capacity in the United States. In 1911 the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the dissolution of its holding company under the Sherman Anti-trust Act, and the companies split off from it later evolved into oil companies including ExxonMobil and Chevron.Open the full entry of California (later Chevron), and Caltex Petroleum Corporation was created from its marketing operations east of Suez and the California company’s Bahrain interests.⁠[1]

In May 1959 the Texas Company changed its name to Texaco, Incorporated.⁠[1]

In early January 1984, after Pennzoil had reached an agreement in principle with the Sarah C. Getty Trust and the Getty museum to acquire Getty Oil, Texaco’s board on January 5 authorized an offer for all of Getty Oil’s shares; the museum agreed to sell its 11.8% stake, and Gordon GettyGordon GettyGordon Getty is an American composer and a son of the oilman J. Paul Getty; as sole trustee of the Sarah C. Getty Trust he sold the trust’s Getty Oil stake to Texaco in 1984, and he has composed operas including Plump Jack and Usher House.Open the full entry accepted Texaco’s offer of $125 a share. On January 6 the Getty Oil board withdrew its counter-proposal to Pennzoil and unanimously accepted Texaco’s offer, and the merger agreement was signed that day.⁠[3]

Texaco ultimately bought the shares for $128 each, paying about $10 billion in all—its largest acquisition, which nearly doubled its reserves; Getty Oil’s assets included an estimated 1.6 billion barrels of oil and related liquids and 2.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.⁠[4][1]

On February 8, 1984, Pennzoil sued Texaco in the Harris County District Court in Houston, alleging tortious interference with its contract with the Getty interests. On November 19, 1985, a jury awarded Pennzoil $7.53 billion in actual damages and $3 billion in punitive damages, and on December 10, 1985, the state court entered judgment for about $11.12 billion including prejudgment interest.⁠[4]

Because Texas rules required an appeal bond of at least the amount of the judgment, Texaco sued in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on December 10, 1985; that court issued a preliminary injunction barring enforcement of the state judgment, and the Second Circuit affirmed it.⁠[4]

On April 6, 1987, in Pennzoil Co. v. Texaco, Inc., the U.S. Supreme Court, in an opinion by Justice Powell, held that the lower federal courts should have abstained under the Younger doctrine, reversed the Second Circuit and remanded with instructions to vacate the injunction and dismiss Texaco’s complaint.⁠[4]

On April 12, 1987, Texaco filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code. With some $34 billion in assets, it was then the eighth-largest company in the United States. Chief executive James W. Kinnear said: “We were, quite simply, forced to make a Chapter 11 filing.”⁠[5][6]

In December 1987 Texaco and Pennzoil reached a settlement under which Texaco would pay $3 billion in cash and Pennzoil would drop its judgment of more than $10 billion; the deal required approval by the bankruptcy court and Texaco’s shareholders, and the bankruptcy court approved the $3 billion compromise that month. Carl IcahnCarl IcahnCarl Icahn is an American investor known for activist investing and hostile takeovers; in the 1980s his battles for control of companies such as TWA earned him a reputation as a “corporate raider.” He controls the diversified holding company Icahn Enterprises, his main investment vehicle, and has led shareholder campaigns at public companies including Apple, Herbalife, Xerox and Illumina.Open the full entry, then Texaco’s largest shareholder with 12.3%, worked with the shareholder and creditor committees on the settlement.⁠[7][5]

On March 23, 1988, the bankruptcy court signed the order confirming Texaco’s plan of reorganization. In April 1988, after 361 days under Chapter 11 protection, Texaco completed the settlement with Pennzoil, paying the $3 billion in cash.⁠[5][1][8]

After the bankruptcy, Texaco restructured by selling assets and formed Star Enterprise, a 50-50 partnership with a subsidiary of the Saudi Arabian Oil Company that began operating on January 1, 1989, supplying three refineries with Saudi crude under a twenty-year commitment. In 1989 Carl Icahn, who held about 17 percent of the stock, waged an unsuccessful proxy contest against management.⁠[1]

In July 1994 Texaco’s management announced a growth plan aimed at top-quartile performance among its competitors, focusing on redeploying assets, cutting overhead and improving operating efficiency. By 1995 the company had about 25,000 employees and $25 billion in assets.⁠[1]

In October 2000 Chevron and Texaco agreed to merge in an all-stock deal worth about $35 billion, with Texaco shareholders to receive 0.77 of a Chevron share for each Texaco share. The combined ChevronTexaco would be headquartered in San Francisco, with Chevron chief executive David O’Reilly as chairman and CEO and Texaco chairman and CEO Peter Bijur as vice chairman. At the time Texaco owned 44% of Equilon, its joint venture with ShellShellShell (Shell plc, formerly Royal Dutch Shell plc) is a multinational energy company headquartered in London; it traces its origins to the group formed in 1907 by Royal Dutch and the “Shell” Transport and Trading Company, became a single listed company in 2005 and was renamed Shell plc in 2022.Open the full entry, and roughly one-third of Motiva.⁠[9]

On October 9, 2001, following stockholder approvals at both companies, the merger was completed and Chevron took the name ChevronTexaco Corporation, with Texaco becoming part of it. Under the merger agreement, ChevronTexaco licensed the Texaco retail brand in the United States to Shell on an exclusive basis until July 1, 2004.⁠[10][2]

On July 1, 2004, ChevronTexaco began marketing gasoline under the Texaco retail brand, first supplying Texaco stations in 13 states from Texas through Maryland and the District of Columbia and expecting to supply more than 1,000 locations in Southern and Eastern states by year’s end. The two companies shared the brand during a two-year transition, and ChevronTexaco regained exclusive U.S. rights to the Texaco brand on July 1, 2006.⁠[2]

On May 9, 2005, ChevronTexaco Corporation changed its name to Chevron Corporation, effective immediately, and said it would continue to grow its retail business through the Texaco, Chevron and Caltex retail brands.⁠[11]

As of October 2026, Texaco operated in the United States as a Chevron retail fuel brand; its U.S. website was run by Chevron U.S.A. Inc., its trademarks were registered to Chevron I.P. LLC, and its gasoline was sold as “Texaco with Techron.”⁠[12]

Texaco: Official website: https://www.texaco.com/ (opens in a new window)⁠[12]

Chevron: Official website: https://www.chevron.com/ (opens in a new window)⁠[12]