Posted on 06/13/2011 8:44:42 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
When workers dismantled the ARCO corporate logo at the former Arco Arena earlier this year, it served as a fitting symbol of the company's California retrenchment.
Known for selling cheap gasoline and for its 24-hour ampm convenience stores, ARCO has been a dominant player in the state's petroleum industry for decades. It is California's largest gasoline distributor, with more than 20 percent of the market.
But since last year's deadly Gulf of Mexico oil spill, parent BP PLC has either sold off or put up for sale most of its California assets.
They include:
[snip]
The divestitures are notable because ARCO used to be one of California's largest companies, and its history is ingrained in the economic history of the state.
The company traces its California roots to 1905 and the founding of Richfield Petroleum in Los Angeles.
With the post-World War II boom, Richfield emerged as a leading gasoline producer in California. It later merged with an East Coast company, Atlantic Petroleum. The new company was called Atlantic Richfield Co., or ARCO.
The company was a powerhouse in California's business community and in Sacramento politics. It remained so even after BP acquired it in 2000.
"It hurts my pride to see a company I so adored disappear," said George Babikian, who served as president of ARCO's refining and marketing operations before retiring in 1993. "It was a great company."
Oftentimes, companies leaving California or scaling back their operations blame what they describe as the state's high cost of doing business or its overregulation, but the exit of BP and ARCO stems mostly from the 2010 well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico, which killed 11 workers and resulted in the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
“Known for selling cheap gasoline and for its 24-hour ampm convenience stores, ARCO” more like MTBE Poison CRAP Gas.
I would be hard to find a more ham-handed, bone-headed company than BP. They destroyed one of the greatest band names in history, Amoco, and replaced it with their sickening green logo. Ditto ARCO on the west coast...
All you need to know about “BP” can be found in this book:
http://www.amazon.com/British-Petroleum-Redline-Agreement-Mideast/dp/0914153153/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1307979692&sr=8-8
Sure: Why would any sane company maintain ANY more exposure California’s business-toxic environment than necessary?
We in California are going to conserve our way to never needing any fossil fuels - EVER!
/s
Amoco and Arco should have NEVER EVER been sold to BP,But Bent Bill was calling the shots and slipped in the MFN for China as well,our industry and energy gone,by one evil Bastard.
Notice how they kept repeating that it *wasn’t* because of California’s hostility to business and high taxes? And then they let slip that the company would have to “reinvest” a lot of money in its operations.
That’s a Democrat trick. “They’re not taxes, they’re *investments*!”
I imagine that ARCO just wants to sneak out of California as quietly as possible, so that California won’t try to nuke them with “exit fees”, demanding billions for this and that, like “environmental cleanup escrows”. Next year they will probably quietly announce a sell off of their northern California assets, leaving nothing behind.
And you can be your bottom dollar that once they are out, the price of gasoline is going to skyrocket.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.