1970 2002 logo industry oil fate acquired by bp founded 1889 founder john d. rockefeller defunct 2004 headquarters amoco building now aon center chicago illinois u.s. website amoco.com amoco corporation originally standard oil company indiana was a global chemical and oil company that was founded in 1889 around a refinery located in whiting indiana united states . it later absorbed the american oil company founded in baltimore in 1910 and incorporated in 1922 by louis blaustein and his son jacob . amoco merged with british petroleum in december 1998 forming bp amoco . shortly after the merger amoco stations began a rebranding that saw the stations change their names to the bp marque while continuing to sell amoco branded fuel . eventually all traces of the amoco brand name were eliminated and the stations adopted the bp branding permanently although amoco s grade naming system is still in use . the firm s innovations included two essential parts of the modern industry the gasoline tanker truck and the drive through filling station . 1 its headquarters were located in the amoco building now the aon center in chicago illinois . 2 contents 1 overview 2 pipelines and oil transport 3 lead free gasoline 4 world war ii 5 post war 6 chemical production 7 global expansion 8 sponsorship 9 incidents 10 merger with bp 11 logo 12 references 13 external links overview edit the amoco building now the aon center housed the amoco headquarters in chicago standard oil indiana was formed in 1889 by john d. rockefeller as part of the standard oil trust . in 1910 with the rise in popularity of the automobile indiana standard decided to specialize in providing gasoline to consumers . in 1911 the year it became independent from the standard oil trust the company sold 88 % of the gasoline and kerosene sold in the midwest . in 1912 it opened its first gas service station in minneapolis minnesota . when the standard oil trust was broken up in 1911 indiana standard was assigned marketing territory covering most of the midwestern united states including indiana michigan illinois wisconsin minnesota north dakota south dakota iowa kansas and missouri . it had the exclusive rights to use the standard name in the region . it purchased the dixie oil company of louisiana in 1919 and began investing in other oil companies outside its standard marketing territory . blaustein incorporated his business as the american oil co. in 1922 . in 1923 the blausteins sold a half interest in american oil to the pan american petroleum & transport company in exchange for a guaranteed supply of oil . before this deal amoco was forced to depend on standard oil of new jersey a competitor for its supplies . standard oil of indiana acquired pan american in 1925 beginning john d. rockefeller s association with the amoco name . 3 in the 1920s and 1930s indiana standard opened up dozens more refining and oil drilling facilities . combined with a new oil refining process indiana standard created its exploration and production business stanolind in 1931 . in the following years a period of intense exploration and search for oil rich fields ensued ; the company drilled over 1000 wells in 1937 alone . pipelines and oil transport edit in 1921 indiana standard bought a half interest in the sinclair pipeline company a subsidiary of sinclair oil corporation 4 which owned a network of crude oil pipelines in the midwestern united states . in 1925 it bought a stake in the pan american petroleum and transport company pat . the acquired company had previously bought a half interest in the american oil company which marketed half of pat s oil in the united states . indiana standard raised its stake in pat to 81 percent by 1929 . in 1931 stanolind completed its acquisition of sinclair pipeline and also acquired the sinclair crude oil purchasing company . all of the pipeline companies were consolidated into the newly formed stanolind pipeline company . the crude oil purchasing operations became stanolind crude oil purchasing company . 5 the pipeline company headquarters were located in the philcade building in tulsa oklahoma . in 1957 all of the corporation s pipeline activities were merged into a single entity which was named service pipeline company . 5 lead free gasoline edit while most oil companies were switching to leaded gasolines en masse during the mid to late 1920s american oil chose to continue marketing its premium grade amoco gas later amoco super premium as a lead free gasoline by using aromatics rather than tetraethyllead to increase octane levels decades before the environmental movement of the early 1970s led to more stringent auto emission controls which ultimately mandated the universal phase out of leaded gasoline . the amoco lead free gasoline was sold at american s stations in the eastern and southern u.s. alongside american regular gasoline which was a leaded fuel . lead free amoco was introduced in the indiana standard marketing area in 1970 . 6 the red crown regular and white crown premium later gold crown super premium gasolines marketed by parent company standard oil indiana in its prime marketing area in the midwest before 1961 also contained lead . 7 world war ii edit world war ii followed this period of exploration ; indiana standard participated in the war effort discovering new means of refinement and even a way of producing tnt more quickly and easily . in addition indiana standard significantly contributed to the aviation and land gasoline needed for the allied armies . also during the war indiana standard created its chemical division formed from the merger of the pan american chemicals company and the indoil chemical company . post war edit in the late 1940s after world war ii indiana standard returned to focusing on domestic oil refinement and advancement . in 1947 indiana standard was the first company to drill off shore in the gulf of mexico and in 1948 stanolind oil invented hydrafrac a hydraulic well fracturing process that increased oil production worldwide . initially the hydrafrac process was licensed exclusively to halliburton . by 1952 standard oil of indiana was ranked as the largest domestic oil company . it had 12 refineries in the united states marketed its products in 41 states owned 12 000 miles 19 000 km of crude oil pipelines 10 000 miles 16 000 km of trunk lines and 1 700 miles 2 700 km of product pipelines . 5 in 1956 the pan am stations in the southeastern u.s. were rebranded as amoco stations . in 1961 indiana standard reorganized its marketing giving its american oil company unit responsibility for its retail operations nationwide under the standard name inside the indiana standard marketing area colorado illinois indiana iowa kansas michigan minnesota missouri montana nebraska north dakota oklahoma south dakota wisconsin and wyoming and under the american name outside that region . both brands shared the same redesigned torch and oval logo for easy identification nationwide . the utoco name used in indiana standard s southwestern region was replaced by the american name . the amoco name continued to be used outside the u.s. and as a brand on certain american oil products . soon after the company began to expand . with an exploration office in canada indiana standard was now an international gas company . indiana standard created several new plants and claimed various new oil fields in this time period as the company prospered in the post war boom . by 1971 all the divisions of indiana standard bore the amoco name including american oil which was renamed amoco oil with american stations renamed amoco stations . by 1975 amoco began phasing in the amoco name in the old indiana standard sales territory . standard oil company indiana was officially renamed amoco corporation in 1985 . 8 carlin s amoco station was built at roanoke virginia about 1947 ; it was listed on the national register of historic places in 2012 . 9 10 chemical production edit in the late 1950s and early 1960s indiana standard again led the way with scientific and technological discoveries . indiana standard discovered pta a chemical for polyester fiber production . in 1968 following that discovery indiana standard acquired the avisun corporation and patchogue plymouth forming the amoco fabrics and fibers company . global expansion edit in the following decades amoco expanded globally creating plants oil wells or markets in over 30 countries including italy australia britain belgium brazil argentina mexico south korea taiwan norway venezuela russia china trinidad and tobago and egypt . in addition the company also acquired a division of tenneco oil company and dome petroleum limited becoming one of the world s largest oil companies . sponsorship edit 1968 72 as american oil company the company sponsored the american freeway patrol afp in the metropolitan san diego area as part of an expansion of service stations into southern california . the american freeway patrol cruised the freeways and assisted disabled motorists free of charge and provided helicopter traffic reports for local radio stations which was groundbreaking at the time . don langford with kfwb am los angeles joined the american freeway patrol san diego as traffic reporter on kogo am fm kson am kitt fm san diego and kmlo am vista . 11 12 american freeway patrol uniform logo circa 1970 . in 1976 amoco under the standard name sponsored the barney oldfield speedway attraction at marriott s great america theme park in gurnee illinois . although the sponsorship deal ended when marriott sold the park to six flags in 1985 the standard logo can still be seen on all of the barney oldfield speedway now great america raceway cars . in 1988 legendary racer mario andretti drove the amoco ultimate lola chevrolet for newman haas racing in the indianapolis 500 and throughout the season in the cart indycar world series . andretti provided great publicity for amoco by winning races at phoenix and cleveland that year part of his 52 career indycar wins . andretti also appeared in amoco television commercials that aired in local race markets as part of the indycar sponsorship campaign . dave blaney drove a nascar winston cup 93 pontiac grand prix under amoco sponsorship from 1997 until the brand s demise in 2001 . incidents edit august 27 1955 saw another explosion at the oil refinery in whiting indiana that caused catastrophic damage and continued to burn for eight days . 13 on march 16 1978 the very large crude carrier amoco cadiz ran ashore just north of landunvez finist re brittany france causing one of the largest oil spills in history . more than a decade later amoco was ordered to pay 120 million in damages and restitution to france . on october 21 1980 an explosion at an amoco plant in new castle delaware killed six people caused 46 million in property damage and eventually led to the loss of 300 jobs . 14 in the 1980s and 1990s six former amoco chemical engineers at the firm s naperville illinois research campus developed a deadly form of brain cancer . researchers who conducted a three year study of the cancer cluster determined that the cancer cases were workplace related but they could not identify the source of the workers ailments . in june 2010 bp demolished building 503 where the employees had worked . according to a company spokesperson the building was underused and required upgrades the company deemed too expensive . heirs of one of the cancer stricken workers won a 2.75 million suit against bp amoco in 2000 . 15 merger with bp edit an abandoned amoco station . a bp in lake villa illinois using the amoco name since converted to bp signage . on august 11 1998 amoco announced it would merge with british petroleum bp in the world s largest industrial merger . originally the