Mobil

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Not to be confused with Mobli or Mobile (disambiguation).
This article is about the company. For the racehorse, see Mobil (horse).
This article needs to be updated. Please help update this article to
reflect recent events or newly available information. (June 2021)

Mobil

Standard Oil Company of New York (1911–

Formerly
31)

Socony-Vacuum Oil Co. (1931–63)

Mobil (1963–99)

Type Private company (1911–1999)

Brand (1999–)

Predecessor Standard Oil

Founded 1911; 111 years ago (as "Standard Oil Company of

New York")

Fate Company merged with Exxon to form ExxonMobil in

1999, becoming a brand

Successor ExxonMobil

Area served Worldwide

Products Gasoline, convenience store

Some locations:
Car wash, repair shop

Brands Mobilgas

Mobiloil
 Mobilubricant

Owner ExxonMobil

Subsidiaries Magnolia (1925–59)

Standard Vacuum Oil Co. (1933–62)

Website www.mobil.com

Mobil Corporation (originally Standard Oil Company of New York and then Socony-

Vacuum Oil Company) was an American oil company that merged with Exxon in 1999
to form ExxonMobil. Prior to its merger with Exxon, Mobil was one of the Seven
Sisters that dominated the global petroleum industry from the mid-1940s until the
1970s. As one of the 34 original companies to descend from the breakup of Standard
Oil, Mobil was originally known as the Standard Oil Company of New York (Socony).
Mobil credits itself with being the first company to introduce paying at the pump at its
gas stations, as well as the first company to introduce a mobile payment device, today
known as Speedpass.[1]
Today, Mobil continues as a brand name within the combined company, as well as still
being a gas station sometimes paired with its own store or On the Run. Mobil's brand
name is primarily used to market motor oils, such as Mobil 1. The former Mobil
headquarters in Fairfax County, Virginia, was used as ExxonMobil's downstream
headquarters[2] until 2015 when ExxonMobil consolidated employees into a new
corporate campus in Spring, Texas.[3]

Contents

 1History
 2Brands

o 2.1Mobil Gasoline

o 2.2Mobil 1

o 2.3Mobil Delvac

o 2.4Mobil Industrial

 3Former brands

o 3.1Discount gasoline stations

o 3.2Convenience Stores

o 3.3Mobil Travel Guide

 4Lukoil transaction
  5Mobil UK

 6Mobil Australia

 7Mobil New Zealand

 8Mobil Greece

 9Mobil in Japan

 10Mobil in Canada

 11Mobil Egypt

 12See also

 13References

 14External links

History[edit]

"Socony Gasoline", Standard Oil of New York plant in New Bedford, Massachusetts, c. 1917

Socony gas station between Norwich and New London on Route 32 in Connecticut, 1916

Following the break-up of Standard Oil in 1911, the "Standard Oil Company of New
York" (or 'Socony') was founded, along with 33 other successor companies.
Henry Clay Folger was head of the company until 1923, when he was succeeded
by Herbert L. Pratt. Beginning February 29, 1928, on NBC, Socony Oil reached radio
listeners with a comedy program, Soconyland Sketches, scripted by William Ford
Manley and featuring Arthur Allen and Parker Fennelly as rural New Englanders.
Socony continued to sponsor the show when it moved to CBS in 1934. In 1935, it
became the Socony Sketchbook, with Christopher Morley and the Johnny
Green orchestra.
Socony petrol station in the Dutch East Indies, 1931

In 1931, Socony merged with Vacuum Oil Company to form Socony-Vacuum.[4] Vacuum

Oil had used "Mobiloil" automobile lubricating oil brand since 1904, and by 1918 it
became recognizable enough that the company filed it for registration as a trademark (it
was registered in 1920).[5]
In 1933, Socony-Vacuum and Jersey Standard (which had oil production and refineries
in Indonesia) merged their interests in the Far East into a 50–50 joint venture. Standard-
Vacuum Oil Co., or "Stanvac", operated in 50 countries, including New Zealand, China,
and the region of East Africa, before it was dissolved in 1962. In 1935, Socony Vacuum
Oil opened the huge Mammoth Oil Port on Staten Island which had a capacity of
handling 250 million gallons of petroleum products a year and could transship oil from
ocean-going tankers and river barges.[6]

Mobiloil Ad (1950)

In 1940, Socony-Vacuum's gasoline buying practices led to the major antitrust

law case United States v. Socony-Vacuum Oil Co. The case originated with Socony-
Vacuum's practices of organizing a cartel among the "major" oil companies in which
they bought oil—known as "hot oil"—from independent producers and stored the
surplus in tanks to limit the supply of oil available on the market and keep the price of oil
artificially high. In its decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that regardless of the
purpose of the price fixing or if the prices varied, such conduct was illegal in and of
itself: "Under the Sherman Act a combination formed for the purpose and with the effect
of raising, depressing, fixing, pegging, or stabilizing the price of a commodity in
interstate or foreign commerce is illegal per se..." This rule remains in use today for
agreements that appear on their face to always or almost always restrict competition
and reduce output.

The Mobil Economy Run generated publicity and promotions such as this 1962 advertisement by Champion
spark plugs with a Rambler American, 1962

In 1955, Socony-Vacuum was renamed Socony Mobil Oil Company. In 1963, it changed
its trade name from "Mobiloil" to simply "Mobil", introducing a new logo (created by New
York graphic design firm Chermayeff & Geismar). To celebrate its 100th anniversary in
1966, "Socony" was dropped from the corporate name.
From 1936 to 1968, Mobil sponsored an economy run each year (except during World
War II) in which domestic automobiles of various manufacturers in a number of price
and size classes were driven by light-footed drivers on cross-country runs. The
Economy Run originated with the Gilmore Oil Company of California in 1936 (which was
purchased by Socony-Vacuum in 1940) and later became the Mobilgas Economy Run,
and still later the Mobil Economy Run. The cars driven in the economy run were fueled
with Mobil gasoline, and Mobiloil and lubricants were also used. The vehicles in each
class that achieved the highest fuel economy numbers were awarded the coveted title
as the Mobilgas Economy Run winner.
During American involvement in World War II, April 29, 1942, Socony's unescorted
tanker, named Mobiloil, was sunk by a German U-boat (German Type IX submarine U-
108 captained by Klaus Schlotz), and all 52 people survived after 86 hours adrift in
lifeboats. Socony-Mobil ranked 86th among United States corporations in the value of
World War II military production contracts. [7]
Former Mobil station in Michigan, displaying several pumps and a Mobil Pegasus sign, pictured in 2008

Old Mobilgas pump displayed on the grounds of the Scurry County Coliseum in Snyder, Texas, 2010

Through the years, Mobil was among the largest sellers of gasoline and motor oils in the
United States and even held the top spot during the 1940s and much of the 1950s.
Various Mobil products during the Socony-Vacuum and Socony-Mobil years included
Metro, Mobilgas and Mobilgas Special gasolines; Mobilfuel Diesel, MobilHeat and
Mobil-flame heating oil, Mobil Kerosine, Lubrite,[8] Gargoyle, Mobiloil and Mobiloil Special
motor oils; Mobilgrease, Mobillubrication, Mobil Upperlube, Mobil Freezone and
Permazone antifreezes, Mobilfluid automatic transmission fluid, Mobil Premiere tires,
Mobil Stop-Leak, and Mobil Lustrecloth, among many others.
In 1954, Mobil introduced a new and improved Mobilgas Special in response to trends
toward new automobiles powered by high-compression engines that demanded higher
and higher octane gasolines. The newest formulas of Mobilgas Special were advertised
as offering "A Tune-Up in Every Tankful" due to a combination of chemicals known as
the "Mobil Power Compound" which was designed to increase power, check pre-ignition
ping, correct spark plug misfiring, control stalling and combat gumming up of
carburetors. Later Mobil campaigns advertised Mobilgas as the "New Car Gasoline"
following extensive testing during the annual Mobilgas Economy Run.
In 1958, Mobil fueled the first transatlantic Boeing 707 commercial flight using its
aviation fuel. The flight was operated by Pan Am, and the flight flies from New York
City to London.[9]

Vintage pumps, manufactured by Tokheim, using the pre-1962 "Mobilgas" product name

In 1962, the gasoline product lines marketed as Mobilgas and Mobilgas Special were
rebranded as Mobil Regular and Mobil Premium in a move to emphasize the shortened
brand name "Mobil" in promotional efforts, although Mobiloil continued as a single-word
term until the 1970s. After a few years of advertising Mobil gasolines as "Megatane"-
rated and as "High Energy" gasolines, Mobil began, in 1966, to promote both its
Regular and Premium fuels as "Detergent Gasolines", due to the inclusion of additives
designed to clean carburetors and various internal engine parts. During the early 1970s,
Mobil ran a TV commercial featuring a character known as "Mr. Dirt" to show the
ruinous effects that dirt had on automotive engines for which a tank of Mobil Detergent
Gasoline could provide a cure and preventive medicine against damage that could lead
to costly repairs.
1975 saw Mobil Oil construct Beryl A, the first offshore oil production platform made out
of concrete. Mobil credits Beryl A with being the prototype for other concrete-based
deepwater oil platforms in the North Sea.[9]
As automakers were switching en masse from carbureted to fuel-injected engines
during the early to mid-1980s, and the detergent additives that existed in most available
gasolines proved not to be enough to prevent injection clogging, leading to drivability
problems, Mobil received accolades from General Motors and other automakers for
increasing the detergency of its Super Unleaded gasoline in 1984 to prevent formation
or deposit build-ups of the injectors but also remove existing deposits as well in normal
driving. At the end of the 1980s Mobil sold its fuel stations in Norway, Sweden, and
Denmark to Norsk Hydro, who converted them into Hydro stations.
In October 1983, Howard B. Keck stepped down as a director, while still controlling 18.4
percent of the company, saying he wanted to sell his stake in Superior Oil Company.
[10]
 In late 1983, an "uneasy truce" was reached between two major stockholders, former
chairman Howard B. Keck and his sister Willametta Keck Day. [11] Day had in April of that
year[10] "led a stockholder revolt" leading to changes in Superior's bylaws, requiring the
company's management to consider takeover bids. Howard Keck had opposed the
bylaw change. He reversed his position on the bylaws November 1983 [11] and disclosed
his intention to sell his stake.[12] Several months before March 1984, the Keck family,
which owned a total of about 22 percent of the stock of Superior, approached Mobil
Corporation (now part of ExxonMobil) with an offer to sell the family stock. [11]
In March 1984, Mobil announced that it had "secretly" agreed to buy the 22 percent, and
would offer the company's remaining stockholders the same price, at $45 a share. [10] In
March 1984, Superior Oil was in the process of being acquired by Mobil for $5.7 billion.
[13][11]
 At that time the company was the nation's largest independent oil producer. [14] The
takeover was completed in September 1984, with Superior, then based in Houston,
becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of Mobil.[15] It was the fifth-largest oil merger in
history, with the combined companies having over $60 billion in combined sales.
[10]
 Among other changes, in February 1985 it was reported that Mobil was planning on
selling an unprofitable Idaho gold mine it had acquired when it purchased Superior. [16]
William P. Tavoulareas was President of Mobil Corporation until succeeded by Allen E.
Murray in 1984. Mobil moved its headquarters from 150 East 42nd Street, New York
City to Fairfax County, Virginia, in 1987.[17] That same year, Mobil sold nearly all of its
stations in Western Pennsylvania (including Pittsburgh) to Standard Oil of Ohio (which
had just been fully acquired by BP) and terminated franchise contracts with the rest of
the stations in the area, withdrawing the Mobil brand from the area for 29 years until
a Uni-Mart location in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, started selling Mobil gasoline in 2016.[18]
In 1998, Mobil and Exxon agreed on a merger to create ExxonMobil, which was
completed on November 30, 1999. Lou Noto was Chairman of Mobil at the time of the
merger, and Walter Arnheim was treasurer.[19]

Brands[edit]

Map of Mobil stores in the continental United States

Mobil continues to operate as a major brandname of ExxonMobil within the ExxonMobil

Fuels, Lubricants & Specialties division.[20] Many of its products feature the Mobil symbol
of a winged red horse, Pegasus, which has been a company trademark since its
affiliation with Magnolia Petroleum Company in the 1930s.
The Mobil brand now mainly covers a wide range of automotive, industrial, aviation and
marine lubricants.[21] For historic reasons, the Mobil brand is still used by Mobil service
stations and for fuel (gasoline, diesel, heating oil, kerosene, aviation fuels and marine
fuel) products.
There are four main Mobil sub-brands:
Mobil Gasoline[edit]

A typical Mobil gas station

Mobil is ExxonMobil's primary retail gasoline brand in California, Florida, New York,
New England, the Great Lakes and the Midwest. The Mobil brand is also used to market
gasoline in Australia, Canada (since 2017), Colombia, Egypt, Guam, Japan (until 2019),
Malaysia (until 2012), Mexico (starting about first quarter of 2018), New Zealand and
Nigeria.
The Mobil brand has a significant market presence in the following metropolitan areas:

 New York metropolitan area (including New Jersey since

2014)
 Detroit
 Chicago
  Los Angeles
 Minneapolis-St. Paul
 Boston
 Buffalo
 St. Louis
 Tampa-St. Petersburg
 Miami-Fort Lauderdale
 Rochester-Syracuse
 Orlando
 Milwaukee
 Providence
 Albany
 Hartford

Mobil stores have made an increased presence in Arizona. Growing in size in the
Phoenix area from fewer than 5 stations to over 20. Mobil stores have also made an
increased presence in areas of Northwest Oregon and Southwest Washington.