ARCO (an acronym for Atlantic Richfield Company) is a oil company which is, since
2000, a subsidiary of UK-based BP and is officially known as BP West Coast Products
LLC. ARCO that was formed by the merger of East Coast-based Atlantic Refining
and California-based Richfield Petroleum in 1966. It is known for having low-priced
gasoline compared with other national brands, mainly due to an early
1980s decision to emphasize cost cuts (cash only policy) and alternative sources
of income (Am/pm). ARCO is headquartered in La Palma, CA.
The Atlantic
Petroleum Storage Company's heritage dates to 1866; it became part of the
Standard Oil trust in 1874, but achieved independence again when Standard Oil was
broken up in 1911. ARCO was a principal in the discovery of Prudhoe Bay, Alaska,
North America's largest oil field, in 1968. Led by founder Robert O Anderson,
ARCO acquired Sinclair Oil in 1969, but later divested certain Sinclair assets
during the mid 1970s, resulting in Sinclair returning as a private company.
ARCO
once had a presence in the southwestern U.S. - a stretch of Texas
State Highway 225 east of Loop 610 in Houston, TX, had an oil tank farm once
painted with the ARCO logo. Lyondell-Citgo would rebrand the oil tanks in the
1980s. ARCO's Corporate Headquarters were in the ARCO Center in Los Angeles at
the corner of 5th and Flower Streets before they were acquired by BP. ARCO's Oil
& Gas division headquarters were in downtown Dallas, Texas. The headquarters
building was a 46-story office building designed by architect I.M. Pei, the ARCO
Tower. ARCO closed the Dallas office and sold the building in the mid 1980s.
Today, ARCO operates about 1100 stations in 5 US Western States: California, Nevada,
Oregon, Washington, and Arizona. |
