Skip to main content

History

With nearly 150 years of experience, we are well positioned to help fulfill global energy needs. We are a diversified energy manufacturing and logistics company with unique businesses in Refining, Midstream, Chemicals, and Marketing and Specialties.

Our company comprises a number of heritage, joint venture and acquired brands. In the decade since Phillips 66 became a standalone company, it has written a number of new chapters in its history. The company has pursued ambitious infrastructure projects that helped cement the company’s leading positions in the crude and natural gas liquids value chains, and it has shared its success, returning $29 billion to shareholders. And it stayed steadfast and relentless in its vision of providing energy and improving lives. 

Our Roots

Origins

Conoco began as the Continental Oil and Transportation Co., one of the first petroleum marketers in the West, in 1875.

Phillips Petroleum Founded

Brothers Frank and L.E. Phillips founded Phillips Petroleum Company, headquartered in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, in 1917.

Big Orange Ball Is Born

The 76 brand, long familiar in the western U.S., was created by Union Oil Company of California (later Unocal), in 1932.

Helping Win the War

During World War II, Phillips Petroleum Company and Conoco made high-octane aviation fuel possible, boosting the power of Allied airplanes.

After the War

In the mid-20th century, Conoco and Phillips Petroleum Company expanded operations and entered new markets. Conoco expanded overseas. Phillips invented polyethylene plastics and entered the plastics business.

Takeover Targets

In 1981, DuPont acquired Conoco after a heated takeover battle, and Conoco became a wholly owned DuPont subsidiary. It was the largest merger in U.S. history at that time. 

Merger of Equals

Conoco and Phillips Petroleum Company officially merged in 2002 to become ConocoPhillips, creating the world’s sixth-largest publicly traded oil company and third-largest in the U.S.

Spinning Off Downstream

Phillips 66 took a classic in a new direction when it began trading under the symbol PSX on the New York Stock Exchange on May 1, 2012.

Today

Ten years later, Phillips 66 is a diversified energy manufacturing and logistics company. The company processes, transports, stores and markets fuels and products globally.