Getty Oil - History

History

Soon after 1970, the Getty Oil Company sold its European activities to Burmah Oil. At that time its assets included the rights to the Veedol name and a refinery in Gaeta, Italy (which had an associated Getty branded service station). Burmah kept Veedol separate from its main Castrol brand, and the name was still in used in several countries after BP bought Burmah in 2000. In 1984, Texaco bought Getty Oil of Los Angeles, California. By General Assignment, Conveyance, Bill of Sale and Transfer dated December 31, 1984, Getty Oil Company transferred its upstream interests to Texaco. On November 19, 1985, Pennzoil won a US$10.53 billion verdict from Texaco in the largest civil verdict in US history. (Texaco established a signed contract to buy Getty Oil after Pennzoil had already entered into an unsigned, yet still binding, buyout contract with Getty.)

In the end, only some of the refineries changed hands, and Getty continued to exist as a downstream entity. Getty gas stations in the Northeast were sold off as a condition of the buyout. At one time, some were co-branded with Mid-Atlantic convenience store chain Uni-Mart, which now sells its own brand of gasoline. The company became known as Getty Marketing.

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