Hess Corporation

Amerada and Stranolind Oil make the first discoveries in the Katy, Texas, oil and gas fields. Leon Hess takes his company public as Hess Oil & Chemical Corp. The Amerada Hess story begins with the English oil entrepreneur Lord Cowdray, who early in 1919 set up the Amerada Corporation to explore for petroleum in the United States, Canada, and Central America. At this time, Everette DeGolyer, a geophysicist and engineer with a record of important technical innovations, was made Amerada's first vice-president and general manager. DeGolyer repeatedly stressed the importance of both geological competence and the then-newly evolving technologies of gravimetric and seismic reflection exploration, arguing that Amerada's ultimate success lay in making accurate and timely scientific estimates and appraisals of oil well production, as well as in the equally difficult economic estimates of oil market futures. The company's first operations centered on wildcat and development fields in Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, and Alabama. As well as having ties to the Mexican Eagle Oil Company, Amerada Corporation by 1920 controlled two subsidiaries, Goodrich Oil Company and Cameron Oil Company. Early successes were in major fields in Kansas, such as the Urschel, and in Oklahoma (the Osage, Seminole, Cromwell, and others). In 1923, DeGolyer was one of the first and most vocal advocates for systematic, as opposed to guesswork, exploration for certain kinds of oil traps around salt domes, frequently found in the Gulf of Mexico states. After state, congressional, and private rumblings about the large land and financial holdings of foreign-controlled oil companies in the United States, between 1924 and 1926 Lord Cowdray sold Amerada stock on the United States market at $26 a share, principally through the Rycade Corporation, to fund the acquisition of oil field holdings in Texas. After extensive joint seismic exploration survey in 1933, Amerada and Stanolind Oil & Gas made the first discoveries in the famous Katy, Texas, oil and gas fields. Further extension surveys led to other discoveries near Houston, Texas. In 1945, Amerada was responsible for finding another major reservoir in the west Texas Permian Basin. The history of the famous North Dakota Williston Basin oil fields emerged into geological and public attention when Amerada, between 1951 and 1953, completed major reconnaissance seismic surveys leading to an important wildcat discovery, in the Nesson anticline. In 1941, Amerada Corporation merged with its principal operating subsidiary and became Amerada Petroleum Corporation. Throughout the World War II period, Amerada operated exclusively within the United States and Canada. In December 1948, Amerada Petroleum Corporation, Continental Oil Company (now Conoco), and Ohio Oil Company (now Marathon) formed the Conorada Petroleum Corporation. Conorada was charged with petroleum exploration outside the United States and Canada, and negotiated major concessions in Egypt around the Qatiara Depression near the Libyan border. In January 1963, Amerada acquired the stock interests of Conorada held by Conoco and Marathon, becoming full owner of Conorada. In 1964, Amerada joined with Marathon, Continental, and Shell to form the major Oasis petroleum consortium in Libya, reportedly holding half of Libyan production--estimated at one million barrels a day--and paying only 30 cents a barrel in taxes compared to Exxon's 90 cents. In 1950, Amerada became active in petroleum pipelining and refining. By 1954, Amerada Petroleum Corporation was one of a group of small producers that sold its output at the well-head. On July 15, 1966, Fortune magazine reported that since 1957 Amerada Petroleum had ranked first in profit margin on crude oil and natural gas, holding full or partial interest in over six million acres in both the United States and Canada, and some 68 million acres overseas. During this period, Amerada Petroleum had been producing natural gas i