Tidewater Oil Company (rendered as Tide Water Oil Company from 1887 to 1936) was a major vertically integrated oil company that operated independently from 1887 to 1926, when it was sold to a holding company. Over the decades, it passed through various corporate hands. It sold petroleum and gasoline products and fuel under various brand names, including Tydol, Flying A, and Veedol.

In 2011, Veedol was sold by British Petroleum to Tidewater India. Now it is part of Andrew Yule and Company's Indian group and manufactures automotive oil for the Indian market on the sub-continent of South Asia. Tidewater does not have its own refinery, so it is dependent on base oil suppliers like HPCL and BPCL. It also manufactures a wide range of automotive lubricants. Its corporate headquarters is in Los Angeles, California.

History

Tide-Water Pipe Company

In November 1878, the Tide-Water Pipe Company was founded by Byron D. Benson (ca. 1828-February 1888), Robert E. Hopkins, and David McKelvy (died May 10, 1918). Other sources include as founders Samuel Q. Brown (died October 5, 1909) and Alanson Ashford Sumner.

The capital at incorporation was $625,000 of which $500,000 was paid in as cash and $125,000 represented the rights-of-way for the Seaboard Pipe Line which were eventually not used. The Reading Railroad Company subscribed to $250,000 of the stock.

Benson, Hopkins, and McKelvy had forged a deal with Franklin Gowen, president of the Reading Railroad, to build a pipeline from the new Bradford oil field at Coryville, Pennsylvania, eastward to Williamsport, where the oil would be loaded into Reading tank cars for transport to independent refiners in Philadelphia and New York. Gowen agreed to put up $250,000, half the predicted cost of building the pipeline.

The result was the world's first long-distance oil pipeline: 102.87 miles.The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power, p. 43 (map of pipe line and railroad on p. 44) The line included 6-inch, 18.5 pounds per linear foot wrought iron pipe joints, ordered from the Reading Iron Company, which began shipments on January 30, 1879, and the National Tube Works, which followed on February 12. Railroads delivered construction materials to 10 shipping points along the route. Laying of the pipe began near Oleona on February 22 and the last joints were put in place on May 22. The line rose 1,200 feet to cross the Allegheny Mountains near Waterville, then descended by gravity 2,100 feet. The cost of laying the line was 15.449 cents per foot, including freight (5.227), hauling (6.4) and joining (3.822). Through May 28, 1880, a total of 1,097,761.06 barrels (3,008 per day) was moved, of which 943,483.02 were transported to eastern refineries.

The pipeline could move 6,000 barrels per day. Starting at Pumping Station No. 1 at Coryville, oil flowed 22.43 miles to No. 2 station at Olmsted near Coudersport, then 80.44 miles to Williamsport. The pumping engines at Coryville began operation at 4 p.m. on May 28; oil arrived at 10:18 a.m. on May 30 at No. 2 station, which began to pump the same day at 3:20 p.m. After a pressure drop was detected, a piece of wood and some rope were removed from the pipe. Olmsted resumed pumping at 5 p.m. on June 2. Oil arrived at the tank farm 1.5 miles east of Williamsport at 7:20 p.m. on June 4. From there the loading station of the railroad could be reached by 12,700 feet of 8-inch gravity-flow pipe.

In 1880, the Equitable Pipe Line was absorbed, the Coryville pumping station was moved a few miles to Rixford and the 4-inch pipe was replaced by 6-inch pipe. The line was extended from Williamsport to Tamanend in the winter of 1881-82 and new pumping stations were built at County Line (No. 3 halfway between Olmsted and Williamsport), Muncy (No. 4 just southeast of Williamsport) and Shumans (No. 5). From Tamanend the New Jersey Central Railroad provided a direct route to New York bypassing Philadelphia in rail shipments. In 1887 the line was extended from Tamanend to Bayonne and pumping stations built at Hudsondale, Pa. (No. 6) and Changewater, New Jersey (No. 7).

The company owned a refinery in Bayonne, New Jersey, next to the larger refinery of the Standard Oil Company. On July 20, 1887, a fire that destroyed the Standard Oil Co. refinery at Constable Hook, also destroyed facilities belonging to the Tide Water Pipe Co., the Polar Oil Co., and the Ocean Oil Co.

In 1908 and 1909, the line was extended westward 546 miles from Rixford to Stoy, Illinois. The joints, made of basic steel, were laid from August 1, 1908, to April 13, 1909. Telegraph poles were erected from August 3, 1908, to April 10, 1909. On May 11, 1909, testing of the line with water began. The first oil arrived at Rixford at 7:15 a.m. on July 7, 1909. Seven pumping stations were later added. Pipeline loops were later added to the eastern portion of the line, which at the beginning of 1913 could move more than 10,000 barrels per day.

Tide Water Oil Company

The Tide Water Oil Company was incorporated in New Jersey on November 17, 1888.

In July 1916, 26,660 shares were offered to the public at $185 per share.

In June 1917, when the company was first listed on the New York Stock Exchange, its main pipeline had grown to include 833.69 miles of 6-inch trunk line from Stoy to Bayonne. Its pipeline system also included 304 miles of 6-inch trunk line loops; 2,000 miles of gathering lines; 20 pumping stations with redundant pump engines; and 92 tanks with a total capacity of 2,672,900 barrels. On one day that year, company pipelines held 1.6 million barrels of oil worth a total of $3,400,000.

The company held all or controlling interest in nine subsidiaries, including:

+ Subsidiaries (1917) Name Incorporated Date Auth. cap. Par Issued Owned by TWO % The Tide Water Pipe Co. Ltd Pennsylvania Nov 13, 1878 $6,250,000 $100 $6,250,000 $6,218,000 99.49 Associated Producers Co Pennsylvania Nov 5, 1884 $900,000 $100 $800,000 $797,000 99.69 Tidal Oil Co Oklahoma Sep 27, 1907 $1,000,000 $100 $582,000 $495,000 85.05 Platt & Washburn Refining Co New Jersey May 11, 1885 $250,000 $100 $250,000 $250,000 100% Tide Water Oil Co of Massachusetts Massachusetts Jan 2, 1908 $25,000 $100 $25,000 $25,000 100% American Oil Co Rhode Island Feb 7, 1902 $100,000 $10 $50,000 $37,300 74.60 Allegheny Pipe Line Co New York Feb 28, 1903 $9,000 $5 $9,000 $5,350 59.44 East Jersey RR & Terminal Co New Jersey Mar 12, 1901 $300,000 $100 $257,000 $257,000 100% Currier Lumber Corp Virginia June 5, 1908 $225,000 $100 $225,000 $225,000 100%

+ History of the Tide Water common stock (par $100) Date Auth. cap Purpose Nov 17, 1888 $5,000,000 Acquisition of Polar Oil Company, Ocean Oil Company, Chester Oil Company, Lombard, Ayers & Company and purchase of real estate in Bayonne May 15, 1907 $20,000,000 acquisition by exchange for stock of the Tide Water Pipe Line Co; for some time this company was the parent company and owned the entire stock of Tide Water Oil Co. until in 1907 the subsidiary took over the parent in a reorganization. May 6, 1908 $25,000,000 extension of the pipe line to Illinois and purchase of producing lands in Illinois Illinois oil production boomed in 1906. For a few years it was 3rd largest producing state behind California and Oklahoma.+ Oil Production in ... (x1000 barrels) Illinois Oklahoma <1900 negligible negligible 1900 6 1901 10 1902 37 1903 139 1904 1,367 1905 181 ? 1906 4,397 ? 1907 24,282 43,524 1908 33,686 45,799 1909 30,898 47,859 1910 33,143 52,029 1911 31,317 56,069 1912 28,602 51,427 1913 23,894 63,579 1914 21,920 73,632 1915 19,042 97,915 1916 17,714 107.072 1917 15,777 107,508 1918 13,366 103,347 1919 11,960 86,911 1920 10,774 106,206 1921 10,043 114,634 1922 9,383 149,571 1923 8,707 160,929 1924 8,081 173,538 1925 7,863 176,768 1926 7,760 179,195 1927 6,994 277,775 1928 6,462 249,857 1929 6,319 255,004 1930 5,736 216,486 1931 5,039 180,574 1932 4,673 153,244 Mar 15, 1916 $30,000,000 acquisition of oil producing lands in Oklahoma.

Holders of stock were given the right to subscribe at par to 1 share for each 5 shares held from Apr 10 to Jul 6, 1916. Feb 20, 1917 $40,000,000 in 1917 $2,900,000 issued for a stock dividend and $8.1m unissued. Pursuant to a board resolution of May 2, 1919, 11,870 shares were issued and exchanged for the entire remaining stock (870 shares) of the Tidal Oil Co. not already owned by TWO, whose total issue was then 330,870 shares. TWO stock was trading between $236 and $250 in June 1919: each par $100 share of Tidal Oil had a market value of $3,220 to $3,411. Dec 15, 1919 $100,000,000 Dec 1919 $8,617,400 plant extensions, 1 tanker, 1 power barge, employee stock program

Dec 1920, $9,931,500 (failed) Mexican operation, 4 tankers, plant extensions

+ Year Detail fiscal year ending December 31 1915 L 1916 XL 1918 XL 1919 XL 1920 XL 1921 L 1922 M 1923 S

+ Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Volume 1917 High 196 204 175 175 3,579 Low 195 198 170 165 1918 High 185 190 200 186 180 182 190 1,342 Low 178 185 1919 High 220 221 220 235 250 250 246 242 265 275 8,102 Low 207 220 214 236 240 240 260 1920 High 205 229 215 205 200 210 215 199 3,019 Low 209 190 205 210 200 180 1921 High 170 175 150 125 120 149 150 9,805 Low 161 162 156 119 123 145 135 1922 High 134 133 126 154 135 52,030 Low 130 118 133 127 120 127 1923 High 133 144 125 120 102 104 60,250 Low 120 128 128 125 116 95 94 98 99 1924 High 151 134 125 132 133 91,600 Low 120 134 129 125 119 119 120 1925 High 152 147 149 7,800 Low 130 143 122 141 136 no par 1925 High 36 217,500 Low 33 32 34 1926 High 35 33 31 486,300 Low 32 30 27 27 1927 High 24 24 24 23 24 48,700 Low 27 19 22 23 22 1928 High 23 27 36 214,400 Low 23 33 1929 High 38 40 37 35 137,800 Low 29 33 14 20 1930 High 26 31 13 8,200 Low 20 28 12 1931 High 15 18 13 6,500 Low 12 1932 High 9 6 10 10 4,900 Low 7 5 6 9 1933 High 16 18 20 20 26 2,200 Low 19 21 1934 High 31 40 37 38 31 31 25 1,170 Low 36 31 30 24 1935 High 40 41 40 48 5,770 Low 37 35 39 40 1936 High 58 60 55 55 55 50 990 Low 52 58 51 50 48

+ Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Volume 1925 High 100 100 101 101 Low 100 99 99 1926 High 103 94 94 93 93 90 Low 99 97 90 91 1927 High 87 88 88 Low 87 85 1928 High 89 89 89 91 39,900 Low 87 88 92 88 96 1929 High 94 95 93 93 93 90 89 42,500 Low 90 1930 High 90 88 91 86 82 23,100 Low 83 90 87 85 82 68 1931 High 83 83 70 55 59 55 60 40 45 43 17,700 Low 80 54 51 35 38 30 1932 High 34 41 40 35 60 62 50 50 48 10,760 Low 30 35 30 30 31 37 50 51 49 45 1933 High 49 50 50 60 60 67 68 75 77 80 13,700 Low 45 47 48 55 62 63 67 73 74 76 1934 High 82 85 88 95 97 24,000 Low 80 82 88 88 92 93 94 95 1935 High 34,800 Low 100 103 105

+ Date Common Preferred 1914 240,000 n/a 1915 May 1923 496,735 Dec 31, 1924 500,045 Jun 30, 1925 504,429 Nov 1925 2,017,741 250,598 Nov 1926 2,138,373 207,061 May 1927 2,158,047 207,052 Nov 1927 2,168,285 207,052 Sep 1931 2,191,821 199,446 Jun 30, 1934 2,191,823 196,246 Jun 30, 1935 2,191,860 190,763

+ Common Preferred Regular Extra 1914 8 0 n/a 1915 8 1916 8 1 1917 8 12 + 0.1 share 1918 8 11 1919 8 8 1920 12 4 1921 10 0 1922 0 1923 1 1924 4 1925 2 no par 1925 0.5 1926 1.5 1927 0.975 1928 0.8 1929 0.8 1930 0.8 1931 0.35 1932 1 1933 1 1934 1.25

+ Year Total Total / day Pennsylvania Illinois Oklahoma Texas Mexico California Misc 1915 3,653,398 10,009 1,297,285 1,658,823 697,288 1917 3,997,000 10,951 1,261,000 1,281,000 1,455,000 1918 4,606,000 12,619 1,301,000 1,588,000 1,691,000 26,000 1919 5,544,674 15,191 1,294,660 893,964 1,613,086 181,691 1,561,273 1920 6,576,786 18,019 1,607,376 1,215,243 2,134,879 209,905 1,407,860 1,523 1921 5,650,862 15,482 1,115,183 569,364 1,409,533 111,317 2,412,033 33,432 1922 ? 23,358 ? 60% ?

In May 1925, the common stock was split 4-for-1. Authorized capital was increased from 1,000,000 to 4,000,000 shares and each outstanding $100 par share was exchanged for 4 new shares of no par value.