The story
Beginning (1917–1927)
The Phillips Petroleum Company was founded by Lee Eldas "L.E." Phillips and Frank Phillips of Bartlesville, Oklahoma, and incorporated on June 13, 1917. The new company had assets of $3 million, 27 employees and land throughout Oklahoma and Kansas. After discovery of Texas's huge Panhandle gas field in 1918 and the Hugoton Field to its north in Kansas, Phillips became increasingly involved in the rapidly developing natural gas industry. In particular, the company specialized in extracting liquids from natural gas and, by 1925, was the nation's largest producer of natural gas liquids. According to the Phillips Petroleum Company Museum in Bartlesville, the "Phillips 66" name for the gasoline came about by a combination of events. The specific gravity of the gasoline was close to 66; the car testing the fuel did 66 miles per hour; and, the test took place on US Route 66. So, the naming committee unanimously voted for “Phillips 66.”
First service station (1927–1954)
The first Phillips 66 service station opened on November 19, 1927, at 805 E. Central Avenue in Wichita, Kansas. This station still stands, preserved by the local historical society. The first Phillips 66 service station built in Texas opened on July 27, 1928, on the corner of 5th and Main streets in Turkey, Texas. In 1932, the 76 brand, long familiar in the western U.S., was created by Union Oil Company of California (later Unocal). In 1946, Phillips purchased the Utah-based Wasatch Oil Co., bringing the Phillips 66 brand to the northern Rocky Mountain states and the far eastern portions of Oregon and Washington.
Motor oil (1954–2000)
Phillips was among the first oil companies to introduce a multi-grade motor oil, "TropArtic", in 1954. Such motor oils were designed to be used year-round in automobile engines, as opposed to single grades for which different grades of motor oils were recommended to meet weather variances. Phillips 66 sells motor oil under the Kendall brand.
Phillips also had gasoline stations in Canada's western provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan under the name Pacific 66 until the late 1970s.
In 1966, Phillips entered the West Coast market by purchasing Tidewater Oil Co.'s refining and marketing properties in that region and rebranding all Flying A distributorships and service stations to Phillips 66.
In 1967, Phillips became the nation's second oil company, after Texaco, to sell and market gasoline in all 50 states, by opening a Phillips 66 station at 2811 Seward Highway in Anchorage, Alaska. Phillips 66 would also open a second station at 1900 Muldoon Road, also in Anchorage. It were the only two Phillips 66 stations in the State of Alaska. Phillips 66 would sell both stations in the State to the Tesoro Alaskan Petroleum Corporation on February 17, 1973. However, Phillips' experiment in 50-state marketing was short-lived.
The company withdrew from gasoline marketing in the northeastern U.S. in 1972, followed by Alaska in February 1973, and sold the former Tidewater properties on the West Coast to The Oil & Shale Corporation (Tosco) in 1976. Today, Phillips 66 primarily operates in the Midwest and Southwest. In recent years, the 76, Phillips 66 and Conoco brand-names have begun to reappear in Eastern markets, including the New York City metro region, via a licensing deal with Motiva Enterprises.
Mergers (2000–2012)
Phillips Petroleum created a joint venture with Chevron Corporation's chemicals and plastics division in 2000 and also acquired ARCO Alaska from BP. It purchased Tosco, which included Circle K convenience stores and Union 76 gasoline, in 2001. In 1983, Phillips Petroleum purchased the General American Oil Company from owners Algur H. Meadows, Henry W. Peters, and Ralph G. Trippett.
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In 2002, Phillips Petroleum merged with Conoco to form ConocoPhillips. The merged company continued marketing gasoline and other products under the Phillips 66, Conoco, and 76 brands. However, Phillips 66 Company licenses the Phillips 66 brand to Suncor Energy for its Phillips 66-branded stations in Colorado.
Spin-off from ConocoPhillips (2012–present)
In 2012, Phillips 66 was spun off from ConocoPhillips, creating a company about as big as Valero Energy, the largest refiner at the time.
In October 2013, two workers were injured in an accident at the company's Humber refinery, which resulted in Phillips 66 being fined more than £1.2 million by the Health and Safety Executive in May 2020.
On December 30, 2013, it was announced that Berkshire Hathaway would trade more than 19 million of its 27.2 million shares in Phillips 66 to acquire a business that makes additives that help crude oil flow through pipelines. The final number of shares was determined when the deal closed.
On February 17, 2015, Phillips 66 sold two natural gas pipeline systems to its affiliate, Phillips 66 Partners, for $1.01 billion in cash and stock. In 2025, Phillips 66 bought the NGL companies EPIC Y-Grade GP LLC and EPIC Y-Grade LP for $2.2 billion, which own NGL pipelines, as well as fractionation and distribution systems and several subsidiaries. The purchase Phillips 66 connected operations in the Permian basin with Gulf Coast refineries and export sites.
In December 2017, Phillips 66 made a bid to acquire Propel Fuels and both companies began working together with Propel disclosing proprietary data and strategies. In August 2018, Phillips 66 terminated the acquisition deal. In February 2022, Propel filed a lawsuit against Phillips 66’s California business, after Phillips 66 started to develop a renewable fuel business. In October 2024, a jury ordered Phillips 66 to pay $604.9 million in damages to Propel for violating the California Uniform Trade Secrets Act.
In January 2023, Phillips 66 acquired all of the publicly traded stocks of DCP Midsteam's pipeline operations for $3.8 billion. Through this acquisition the total amount of Phillips 66’s stake in DCP doubled to 86.8%.
From Wikipedia’s article on Phillips 66, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.8