APCO Oil Corporation

APCO Oil Corporation was an oil and petroleum goods marketing and distribution company that operated in the Oklahoma region from 1960–1979. It was a successor company to the Anderson-Prichard Oil Corporation. The term “APCO” has also been used by other entities related to the Anderson-Prichard brand.

APCO Oil Corporation
Industrypetroleum distribution
FateDissolved in 1979
PredecessorAnderson-Prichard Oil Corporation
SuccessorAnderson Family Office
Founded1960 (1960)
Defunct1979 (1979)
Headquarters
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
,
USA
Area served
Arkansas, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas
Key people
Lev H. Prichard & J. Steve Anderson
ProductsAPCO Gasoline

Name

“APCO” was a common acronym used within the Anderson-Prichard Oil Corporation since its founding in 1922. As early as 1926, Anderson-Prichard began attempts at trademarking the acronym, first through overtures to the American Pacific Company, and later through communications with the American Oil Company, whose trading name AMOCO was thought to be too similar. The two companies finally came to an agreement in 1954 permitting Anderson-Prichard to use the APCO name and logo.[1]

History

APCO Oil Corporation was created in 1960 when outside investors purchased the remaining parts of the Anderson-Prichard Oil Company, particularly its marketing and distribution units.[2] In 1961, APCO remained a Fortune 500 company.[3] The company operated service stations around Oklahoma and neighboring states including Texas, Kansas, Arkansas, and Missouri, as well as states further afield in the Midwest such as Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin and Illinois.[1] The company was dissolved in 1979. The APCO logo was still used after the company’s dissolution by many independent service stations, and can still be spotted occasionally in the region.[4]

Other Uses

The term “APCO” was frequently used informally to describe the pre-existing Anderson-Prichard Oil Company, most prominently in the case of APCO Tower in Oklahoma City, were the company was headquartered.[1]

The “APCO” name was again used by Lev Prichard III, grandson of Anderson-Prichard Oil co-founder Lev Prichard, when he created Apco Minerals, LLP in 1995 to manage the family’s legacy mineral rights. Since 2009, the company has been managed by Prichard’s widow, Ella Wall Prichard, and is participating in the current shale oil boom in Oklahoma. Since 2010, the name APCO Oil Corporation has been owned and operated by Anderson Prichard Oil Company co-founder J. Steve Anderson’s great grandson Thomas S. Austin to manage the Anderson Family’s legacy mineral rights as well as producing new wells in Texas & Oklahoma.[4]

References
  1. Neale Boyd (1977). A history of APCO Oil Corporation and its predecessor company, Anderson-Prichard Oil Corporation. APCO Oil Corporation.
  2. Jones, William (August 31, 1960). "Big Oil Company Plans Assets Sale; Anderson-Prichard to Get $123,300,000 in a Deal With 4 Companies". New York, NY: The New York Times. p. 37. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  3. "Fortune 500 Database". CNN Money. 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  4. "About the APCO Oil Company". APCO Oil Corporation History Page. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
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