Phillips Petroleum Company

▪ American company

      former U.S. petroleum company that merged with Conoco in August 2002 to form ConocoPhillips.

      Phillips was incorporated in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, in 1917 to acquire the Oklahoma and Kansas oil-producing properties of Frank and L.E. Phillips. The acquisition of a refinery in 1927 led to its development as an integrated oil company. The same year it opened its first gasoline station and began selling the Phillips 66 brand—a name that was coined from a road test of a new fuel, when the car reached a speed of 66 miles per hour on Highway 66. The company continued to grow, founding subsidiary Phillips Chemical Company in 1948. Phillips succeeded in preventing two hostile takeovers in the mid-1980s. In 2001 it acquired Tosco Corporation, known for its 76 brand gasoline and Circle K convenience stores.

      Phillips was involved in every phase of the petroleum industry, including exploration and development, transportation, refining and processing, and marketing and distribution. It developed important oil and gas holdings in the North Sea, Venezuela, Alaska, and offshore China, and its operations included refineries, pipelines, and tankers.

      Phillips marketed gasoline for automobiles and aviation, oils and greases, kerosene, and liquefied gas, and it had subsidiaries in North and South America, Europe, Africa, Australia, and East Asia. After the 2002 merger, gasoline brands sold by ConocoPhillips included Phillips 66, Conoco, and 76 in the United States and Jet and SECA in many European and Asian countries.

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