Sun Company

The Sun Company, first incorporated under the laws of New Jersey on May 2, 1901, and successor to the Sun Oil Company (Ohio) formed in 1890, is an international energy company with oil, gas and coal reserves in 24 states, Canada, the British North Sea and Venezuela.

From the description of Corporate records, 1890-1984. (Hagley Museum & Library). WorldCat record id: 86119238

The Sun Company, first incorporated under the laws of New Jersey on May 2, 1901, and successor to the Sun Oil Company (Ohio) formed in 1890, is an international energy company with oil, gas, and coal reserves in 24 states, Canada and the British North Sea and Venezuela.

From the description of Records, 1889-1984. (Hagley Museum & Library). WorldCat record id: 86134075

The Sun Company, first incorporated in New Jersey on May 2, 1901 as successor to the Sun Oil Company (Ohio) founded in 1890, is an international energy company with oil, gas and coal reserves in 24 states, Canada, the British North Sea and Venezuela.

From the description of Administrative correspondence, 1886-1933. (Hagley Museum & Library). WorldCat record id: 122516060

The Sun Company absorbed the Sunray DX Oil Company by merger in 1968 in order to enhance its competitive position. Sunray DX was a medium-sized oil company operating primarily in the Gulf States and the Southwest.

The principal predecessor company, Sunray Oil Corporation, was incorporated in Arizona in 1920. In 1950 it acquired the Barnsdall Oil Company, a major operator in the West and Southwest, and in 1955 it merged with the Mid-Continent Petroleum Corporation to form the Sunray Mid-Continent Petroleum Corporation. Mid-Continent traced its origins to Cosden & Co., founded in Baltimore in 1913 to exploit the recent discovery of oil in Oklahoma (the Glenn Oil Pool of 1907). Mid-Continent's strength in refining complemented Sunray's strength in production.

From the description of Sunray DX merger files, 1860-1968. (Hagley Museum & Library). WorldCat record id: 122558601

The Sun Company was incorporated under the laws of New Jersey on May 2, 1901, for the purpose of acquiring the assets of the Sun Oil Company (Ohio), formed in 1890. It was renamed the Sun Oil Company on December 15, 1922. As part of a general restructuring, a new Sun Oil Company was formed under the laws of Pennsylvania on August 4, 1971, as a holding company which acquired all the subsidiaries of the former New Jersey corporation, effective September 30, 1971. At the same time, two new subsidiaries were created: the Sun Oil Company of Pennsylvania, which assumed the operation of all domestic transportation and marketing facilities; and the Sun Oil Comapny of Delaware, which assumed all domestic exploration. The holding company was renamed the Sun Company, Inc., on April 27, 1976. The modern Sun Company is an international energy company with oil, gas, and coal reserves in 24 states, Canada and the British North Sea and Venezuela.

In the winter of 1876, Joseph Newton Pew (1848-1912) and Edward O. Emerson formed a partnership to explore for natural gas in the area around Bradford, Pa. This was a fringe area in which the dominant company, the Standard Oil Company, had shown little interest. By 1881, Emerson and Pew had concluded that there was a potential market for this relatively inexpensive form of energy and formed the Keystone Gas Company. The next year they established the Penn Fuel Company and three years later, the People's Natural Gas Company. During the decade, the partners consciously sought to exploit a cheap by-product of the oil boom to create a small but profitable industry in an area not controlled by the Standard Oil Trust.

The 1885 oil strike in Lima, Ohio, encouraged Pew and Emerson to take the first steps into the oil business proper. In 1886 they organized the Sun Oil Line Company to lease wells and build pipelines, tank cars and storage facilities. In 1890 the partners formed the Sun Oil Company (Ohio), and four years later they joined in the formation of the Diamond Oil Company, which purchased the Crystal Refinery in Toledo. Pew and Emerson soon bought out their partners and became sole owners of the refinery, which went into production in 1895. Pew bought out Emerson's interest in the company in 1899.

In January 1901 J.N. Pew and his nephew Robert C. Pew were among the first of the oil entrepreneurs to go to Texas to investigate the Spindletop strike that began the Texas oil rush. Pew moved to Philadelphia, incorporated the Sun Company in New Jersey, and constructed a refinery on the Delaware River at Marcus Hook to which Texas crude could be shipped by tanker, bypassing the pipelines and railroads dominated by Standard Oil. Sun's early commercial efforts focused on the European market, which it penetrated with considerable success. By the time of J. N. Pew, Sr., death in 1912, the Sun Company was established as a strong, aggessive, integrated, independent oil company with a worldwide market for its line of Sun Red lubricating oils and the first commercially viable asphalt, Hydrolene. J.N. Pew was succeeded by his second son J. Howard Pew. Under Pew's sons, the company began retailing its lubricating oils in 1919 and opened its first gasoline service station in 1920.

In the 1930s the company entered into a joint venture with the French engineer Eugene Houdry which developed the Houdry process for refining oil into high-octane gasoline by catalytic cracking. This made Sun a major force in the oil industry for the first time.

In 1947 J. Howard Pew retired and was succeeded by Robert G. Dunlop as the first non-family CEO. He introduced modern methods of professional management and functional departmentalization. The Pew family continued to exercise control and set overall policy through the board of directors. J. Howard Pew was the driving force behind the Great Canadian Oil Sands Limited project of the 1960s, aimed at developing the Athabasca tar sands. By the mid-60s, activity on this scale was no longer possible for Sun, and in 1968 Sun merged with Sunray DX Oil Company of Tulsa, Oklahoma, a regional company of similar size and outlook.

Throughout its history Sun has remained relatively small compared to the petroleum giants often described as the "Seven Sisters." It nevertheless maintained a significant market share in the industry. In 1975 it was number 22 on the Fortune 500 list.

From the description of Agency history record. (Hagley Museum & Library). WorldCat record id: 86094028