Location: Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States
Founded: 1986
Key People:
Eric Johnson (President & CEO)
More About The Manufacturer:[]
In 1986, convenience store operator Cumberland Farms purchased a license for North American rights to the Gulf brand from Chevron. Chevron still owned the Gulf brand, but made little use of it by 2006. Cumberland Farms then operated about 500 gas stations, 20 refined petroleum terminals; it was licensed to use Gulf trademarks and names in 11 states. In 1993, Cumberland Farms entered a joint venture with Catamount Petroleum LP, forming Gulf Oil Limited Partnership with Cumberland owning a two-thirds interest. Cumberland since acquired the company in full. Then, there were some independently owned franchises operating under the Gulf brand in North America, including American Refining Group, which is licensed by Chevron to blend and distribute Gulf-branded lubricants.
In June 2008, Gulf had 1800 stations in the northeastern US; Gulf Oil LP agreed to supply the approximately 600 Exxon stations in New England and New York in a deal with ConocoPhillips. The deal included Cumberland Farms buying 200 Exxon stations, but intended to keep the name. That month, The Boston Globe reported that Gulf Oil LP (which had pur hases the delivery contracts for over 500 Exxon stations in 2003 after the ExxonMobil merger required divestment) wanted to buy Mobil-branded company-owned stations in the Northeast. ExxonMobil sold 820 owned-and-operated stations, plus about 1400 leased stations. Then, Gulf was the only large local brand in New England, where it had 2000 stations, supplying about 500 stations with other names, for a market share of 10 percent. The 2003 deal gave Gulf Oil exclusive rights to the Exxon name in New York and New England until February 2010, when "Exxon" would be dropped. However, in 2008 Gulf Oil decided to stop using the Exxon name in February 2009, asking independent stations to switch to Gulf. The Enterprise of Brockton, Massachusetts reported in April 2008 that Verc Enterprises would change 14 Exxon stations in Massachusetts and New Hampshire to Gulf, but not its five Mobils. Massachusetts Turnpike Authority announced in summer 2007 a switch of eleven former Exxon stations on the Massachusetts Turnpike to Gulf, and in 2009 the same change was extended to 158 Cumberland Farms owned stations, the Globe said. Gulf supplied 300 other Exxons, of which 200 would likely change to Gulf. Many of the former Exxon stations feature a rectangular logo that fit into the existing sign standards used by Exxon. Gulf refers to the look as its "sunrise" imaging.
In December 2009, Chevron USA announced it would no longer serve 1100 stations in 13 states. On January 12, 2010, after using the name since 1986, the Gulf Oil partnership acquired all right, title and interest in the Gulf brand name in the United States and announced plans to expand the use of the Gulf brand beyond eleven states from Ohio to Delaware and northeastward. Chevron USA had the rights to the Gulf name elsewhere but used Chevron or Texaco in those areas. The first areas where Gulf would expand would be those Chevron and Texaco stations included in the 2009 announcement. Later, The Pantry of Cary, North Carolina would likely consider the Gulf name, according to Gulf Oil COO Ron Sabia, though Pantry officials did not comment on such a possibility. On March 10, 2010, Gulf Oil announced an agreement with Somerset Petroleum to change nine stations to Gulf, five of them Chevron, giving Kentucky its first Gulf stations since 1990. Gulf Oil formed a partnership with Milo Cockerham Inc. to return the Gulf name to Virginia for the first time since 1986. Chevron stations in the southwestern part of the state will make the change in July 2010.
In December 2015, ArcLight Capital Partners purchased Gulf Oil LP from Cumberland Farms for $ 800 million.
Gulf Oil offered residential and commercial electric service for residents in New York and five New England states: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire. This was transferred over to Think Energy in 2015. Gulf Oil has also been quite well known in the racing world for being the main sponsor on the original Ford GT in the Le Mans races of the 1960's. The scheme is quite famous in racing and can be usable in iRacing making Gulf Oil a very well known brand in racing.