When I was a youngster growing up in West Texas my dad worked for Gulf Oil Corp. His friends worked for Stanolind, Sinclair, Humble, Mobil and Magnolia. When I entered the business in 1967 with Unocal (at age 8, of course) my friends worked for many of the same companies. During stints with Sohio and Aminoil U.S.A., I made friends at Signal, Burma, Sun, and Socal, among others. If these names mean nothing to you, don’t feel alone. Many of the companies haven’t existed in years.

In 1975, Anthony Sampson published a ground-breaking book entitled The Seven Sisters: the Great Oil Companies and the World They Made. Sampson identified the seven great oil companies as Exxon, Mobil, Gulf, Socal, Texaco, Shell and BP. Together they had controlled most domestic and global exploration and production since the end of World War II. Of the seven, only four exist now — Exxon, Socal (Chevron), Shell and BP. Of the four remaining sisters, none, it can be argued, enjoys the status it did in 1975. To be sure, they are still major companies but their power wanes, at least in terms of production and development potential, against the likes of Saudi Armco, PdVSA and LUKOIL.

Just as Sampson, we can’t predict accurately, and perhaps can’t even imagine, the names of “seven sisters” 30 years from now. However, we can be fairly sure the list will be populated, primarily, with national oil companies, including some, like China National Petroleum Corporation, that would not readily come to mind today. And we can be sure that a list of second tier companies will include many names that don’t even exist today. Witness Chesapeake and Chieftain in the United States, major companies that did not exist 30 years ago and were not major players as little as 5 years ago.

And what will become of the giants and lesser players of today? You know what happened to Gulf, Mobil and Texaco. But what of Stanolind, Sinclair, Humble, Pan American, Signal, Burma Sun and Socal? A couple are easy. Humble (The Humble Oil and Refining Company) was the operating name for ESSO (later Exxon) in Texas and Ohio only. The name was abandoned in 1972. Socal (Standard Oil of California) changed its operating name to Chevron in 1977.

Stanolind was created in 1931 as the oil and gas exploration and production sector of Amoco. The company drilled over 1,000 wells in 1937 alone. In 1957, all the divisions of Amoco, including Stanolind, were consolidated into a single company under the Amoco moniker. In 1998, Amoco merged with BP.

Sinclair still exists as a vital oil and gas company. Its primary business is refining and distribution although it still engages in exploration and production. The company was founded by Harry F. Sinclair in 1916, by which time Sinclair (the man) had become the biggest independent oil producer in the United States.

The Magnolia Petroleum Company was founded in Texas in 1911 as a consolidation of several smaller operating companies. The company became extremely successful in the southwestern states, so much so that it was acquired by the Standard Oil Company of New York (Socony) in 1925. In 1931, Socony merged with the Vacuum Oil Company to form the Socony-Vacuum Oil Company, with Magnolia as an affiliate. In 1959, Socony-Vacuum merged with Mobil to form the Socony Mobil Oil Company, taking Magnolia with it. Socony-Mobil became Mobil which became ExxonMobil.

Unocal (Union Oil of California) merged with Chevron in 2005. Sohio (Standard Oil of Ohio) was the original Rockefeller oil company. It was never very large and operated primarily in the United States in Texas, Kansas and Ohio. Sohio became involved early on in the Alaskan Prudhoe Bay development and the Alaskan pipeline. The company went from a small, cash poor company to a small, cash rich company and proceeded to waste most of the money from Alaskan operations. BP took majority ownership of Sohio in the 1970s in exchange for Sohio’s Prudhoe Bay properties.

Aminoil (American Independent Oil Company) was originally formed by a group of US operators to operate onshore Kuwait. It was given the concession to the Kuwait (as it turned out) sector of the Neutral Zone separating Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. In 1977, Kuwait nationalized Aminoil’s concession and the company withdrew to the United States to develop California and offshore Gulf of Mexico properties. Shortly thereafter, the company was purchased by the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. In the early 1980s, Aminoil’s Gulf of Mexico properties were sold to Phillips Petroleum, now part of Conoco Phillips. As near as can be determined, R.J. Reynolds still owns the bulk of the rest of Aminoil, including its Californian offshore and geothermal properties.

As for Signal, Burma and Sun, they will have to wait until a later date.

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