Phillips 66

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.

Marketing

From the late 1930s until the 1960s, Phillips employed registered nurses as spokespersons for their company, calling them "Highway Hostesses". They made random visits to Phillips 66 stations within their districts. The nurses inspected station restroom facilities to ensure they were clean and stocked with supplies. They also served as concierges, spreading goodwill for the company by helping motorists identify suitable dining and lodging facilities. (Union 76 employed similar hostesses, called the "Sparkle Corps".)

In 1973, Phillips began billing itself as "The Performance Company", promoting innovations with asphaltic materials, fertilizers, and other non-automotive products as well as its traditional automotive products. Other slogans have included: "Go first-class.... Go Phillips 66"; "The gasoline that won the West"; "Good things for cars and the people who drive them"; "Hard working gas"; and "At Phillips 66, it's performance that counts." Their slogan as of July 2015 is "Proud To Be Here". Phillips 66's newest slogan as of 2017 is “Live To The Full”.

Phillips 66 has long been a supporter of basketball in the Midwest and Southwest, particularly at the collegiate and senior amateur level. The men's and women's conference basketball tournaments of the Big Eight Conference, which featured multiple universities in Phillips 66's footprint, was officially sponsored by the firm since the 1980s: the sponsorship would move to its successor, the Big 12 Conference, in 1997, and Phillips remains the tournament's presenting sponsor to this day. Company employees founded the Phillips 66ers team in 1919, initially playing against other Bartlesville and Tulsa-area company teams or athletic clubs. Chairman Frank Phillips would later expand the team to play a high-quality, nationwide schedule against other amateur teams while marketing Phillips 66 products. Before the foundation of the NBA after World War II, many top collegiate players would continue to play organized ball on these "industrial" teams while earning a living as corporate employees and keeping their amateur status to play in the Olympics. The most notable 66er was Bob Kurland, who won two NCAA titles at nearby Oklahoma A&M and was considered one of American basketball's first great "big men". The 7-footer passed up the opportunity to play pro for a marketing job at Phillips, winning three AAU titles and two Olympic gold medals while eventually rising to the executive level and helping to develop self-serve gas stations. Rising pro salaries and the resulting loss of national media coverage spelled doom for senior AAU ball, though, and the 66ers would close up shop after losing in the 1968 AAU quarterfinals.

Phillips 66 sponsored PBS programming during the 1980s. It funded A.M. Weather; The Search for Solutions; and Onstage with Judith Somogi.