Interview with Robert Kirchhofer, an executive at Caltex Petroleum Corporation, discussing his educational background, his early career with Texaco in Jamaica, his transfer to Caltex, his assignment as marketing assistant in India in 1937, marketing Caltex products in India, the lifestyles of Caltex employees in India, World War II and the Indian market, his assignment to the Petroleum Ordnance Committee (1941-1943), and his return to India as Bombay district manager in 1943. He also talks about the partition into India and Pakistan and its effect on Caltex, the Vizagapatam refinery, his transfer to The Netherlands in 1953, the relationship between Caltex and shareholders (Texaco and Standard Oil of California), Caltex marketing in Europe, his assignment to Caltex (New York) as assistant general manager of North Europe in 1961, and his appointment as regional director of the South European area. Kirchhofer discusses the re-entry of Socal and Texaco into the European market in 1967, his appointment as director of the Mediterranean and Mid-East Region (1964-1976), and OPEC and its effects on Caltex.
