Tide-Water Pipe Company In November 1878, the Tide-Water Pipe Company was founded by Byron D. Benson (ca. 1828-February 1888), Robert E. Hopkins, and David McKelvy (died May 10, 1918). Other sources include as founders Samuel Q. Brown (died October 5, 1909) and Alanson Ashford Sumner. The capital at incorporation was $625,000 of which $500,000 was paid in as cash and $125,000 represented the rights-of-way for the
Seaboard Pipe Line which were eventually not used. The Reading Railroad Company subscribed to $250,000 of the stock. The line included 6-inch, 18.5 pounds per linear foot
wrought iron pipe joints, ordered from the Reading Iron Company, which began shipments on January 30, 1879, and the National Tube Works, which followed on February 12. Railroads delivered construction materials to 10 shipping points along the route. Laying of the pipe began near
Oleona on February 22 and the last joints were put in place on May 22. The line rose 1,200 feet to cross the
Allegheny Mountains near
Waterville, then descended by gravity 2,100 feet. The cost of laying the line was 15.449 cents per foot, including freight (5.227), hauling (6.4) and joining (3.822). Through May 28, 1880, a total of 1,097,761.06 barrels (3,008 per day) was moved, of which 943,483.02 were transported to eastern refineries. The pipeline could move 6,000 barrels per day. Starting at Pumping Station No. 1 at Coryville, oil flowed 22.43 miles to No. 2 station at Olmsted near
Coudersport, then 80.44 miles to Williamsport. The pumping engines at Coryville began operation at 4 p.m. on May 28; oil arrived at 10:18 a.m. on May 30 at No. 2 station, which began to pump the same day at 3:20 p.m. After a pressure drop was detected, a piece of wood and some rope were removed from the pipe. Olmsted resumed pumping at 5 p.m. on June 2. Oil arrived at the tank farm 1.5 miles east of Williamsport at 7:20 p.m. on June 4. From there the loading station of the railroad could be reached by 12,700 feet of 8-inch gravity-flow pipe. In 1908 and 1909, the line was extended westward 546 miles from Rixford to
Stoy, Illinois. The joints, made of
basic steel, were laid from August 1, 1908, to April 13, 1909. Telegraph poles were erected from August 3, 1908, to April 10, 1909. On May 11, 1909, testing of the line with water began. The first oil arrived at Rixford at 7:15 a.m. on July 7, 1909. Seven pumping stations were later added. Pipeline loops were later added to the eastern portion of the line, which at the beginning of 1913 could move more than 10,000 barrels per day. In June 1917, when the company was first listed on the
New York Stock Exchange, its main pipeline had grown to include 833.69 miles of 6-inch trunk line from Stoy to Bayonne. Its pipeline system also included 304 miles of 6-inch trunk line loops; 2,000 miles of gathering lines; 20 pumping stations with redundant pump engines; and 92 tanks with a total capacity of 2,672,900
barrels. On one day that year, company pipelines held 1.6 million barrels of oil worth a total of $3,400,000.--> Holders of stock were given the right to subscribe at par to 1 share for each 5 shares held from Apr 10 to Jul 6, 1916. Dec 1920, $9,931,500 (failed) Mexican operation, 4 tankers, plant extensions In May 1925, the
common stock was split 4-for-1. Authorized capital was increased from 1,000,000 to 4,000,000 shares and each outstanding $100 par share was exchanged for 4 new shares of no
par value. In August 1925, the company issued $25,221,500 of 5% cumulative (par $100) convertible
preferred stock to provide
working capital, finance infrastructure, and retire its entire funded debt of $12,000,000. The preferred was called on August 15, 1935 at $105 and the final $1.25 quarterly dividend, using ca. $1,800,000 from the cash reserve and a $19,000,000 3.23% 5-year bank loan dated Aug 15, 1935. Apparently or 195,765 shares were called and some 56,450 were converted, but a few seem to also have been bought on the market just prior to the call.
Tide Water Associated Oil Company In 1926, control of Tide Water Oil was sold to a new holding company, Tide Water Associated Oil Company, which also acquired a controlling interest in California's
Associated Oil Company. Soon thereafter,
Standard Oil Company of New Jersey took control of the company.
Flying A became the primary brand name for the company, though the Tydol and Associated names were also retained in their respective marketing areas. The Tide Water Associated Oil Company (incorporated in Delaware on March 6, 1926) offered for each share of Associated Oil stock (of which 2,290,412 shares were outstanding) 1 share of no-par common and share of 6% par $100 cumulative preferred. An alternative offer by a syndicate formed by
Blair & Co. and Chase Securities Corp. offered $58.50 per share of Associated Oil Company. For each share of no-par stock of Tide Water Oil, share of TWAO was offered. The preferred stock of Tide Water Oil remained unchanged. The Justice Department concluded an anti-trust investigation on April 22, 1926, declaring the consolidation legal. On May 31, 1930, Tide Water Oil sold the subsidiary Tide Water Oil Export Corp to the
Pan American Petroleum and Transport Company, a subsidiary of
Standard Oil Company of Indiana. After a board resolution on Sep 17, 1936, TWAO bought the stock of the Terrabella Investment Co (California) for 230,000 new TWAO shares, which brought the total common stock registered with the NYSE to 8,751,985 shares. In August 1936 TWO (New Jersey) spun off all operations into the new wholly owned subsidiary TWO (Delaware) and on November 30, 1936, Tide Water Oil and Associated Oil were merged into the Tide Water Associated Oil Company, which then held 99.13% of TWO and 98.21% of AO stock. The no-par common stock was exchanged for $10 par common to reduce tax payments. Each residual TWO share not already in the TWAO treasury received 3 shares of TWAO stock; each AO share received , causing the issue of 149,698 new TWAO shares. The merger was likely among the many executed in response to the
Revenue Act of 1936. Tidewater Oil Company operated a fleet of oil
tankers. During
World War II, it
chartered ships to the
Maritime Commission and
War Shipping Administration and operated
T2 tankers to support the war effort. Ships included:
USS Guyandot (AOG-16),
SS Byron D. Benson,
SS Samuel Q. Brown, Falls of Clyde, and others. During the 1950s, the Associated and Tydol brands gradually fell into disuse, and were dropped entirely in 1956.
Mission Corp Mission Corp was incorporated at the end of 1934 as a holding company as a means of Standard Oil of New Jersey to distribute its holding of TWAO stock. It had an authorized capital of 1,500,000 shares of which 1,050,000 were initially issued and on March 15, 1935 a stock dividend of shares of Mission Corp was paid per share to holders of par $25 Jersey common stock. Mission Corp owned only a small amount of working cash and 1,128,123 shares of TWAO common stock. Directors were: Edward Shea, Robert McKelvy (both of TWAO) and Herbert Rawl, Lyman Rhoades and John P. Davis.
Tidewater Oil Company On May 4, 1956, the name of the company was changed to Tidewater Oil Company; distribution continued under the Flying A and Veedol brand names. In 1966,
Phillips Petroleum Company (now
ConocoPhillips) purchased Tidewater's
western refining, distribution and retailing network. Phillips immediately rebranded all Flying A stations in the region to
Phillips 66. On the East Coast that year, American-born British petrol-industrialist
J. Paul Getty merged his oil interests into
Getty Oil Company, and Tidewater Oil was dropped as a corporate brand. The Flying A brand continued to be used on the East Coast until 1970, when stations and products were renamed Getty. In 2000,
BP acquired the Veedol brand when it bought
Burmah-Castrol. In February 2011, BP offered to sell the Veedol brand, which was purchased that October by Tide Water India, part of the
Andrew Yule and Company Indian subsidiary. ==Tanker fleet==