Exxon Corporation

Exxon was an American oil and natural resources company that merged with Mobil Corporation in 1999 to form Exxon Mobil Corporation.

Exxon was founded in 1882 as Standard Oil Company (New Jersey), part of the Standard Oil Company and Trust), which in 1899 became the holding company for the Standard Oil companies previously grouped in the trust. In 1911, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered it to divest itself of 33 of its American subsidiaries.

Standard Oil of New Jersey expanded internationally well before the 1911 breakup of the Standard Oil trust, becoming a multinational corporation. In 1888, it organized Anglo-American Oil Company (predecessor of Esso Petroleum Company) to market oil in the British Isles and, two years later, acquired a major interest in the German company that would become Esso AG. In 1898, it gained control of Imperial Oil Limited, Canada’s leading oil company.

The company continued to expand through acquisitions and investments in the decades following the 1911 breakup. A few of the many later acquisitions (complete or partial) included Humble Oil & Refining Company (1919), Tropical Oil Company of Colombia (1920), Standard Oil Company of Venezuela (1921), Creole Petroleum Company of Venezuela (1928), Turkish Petroleum Company (1928), and Arabian-American Oil Company (later ARAMCO; 1948).

In 1926, the New Jersey company introduced the trade name Esso (representing the abbreviation for Standard Oil, “S.O.”) and applied it to many of its products and companies. Other Standard Oil companies, however, later contested the name in the courts and succeeded in barring its use in several states.

The New Jersey company also made important advances in petroleum research and technology during the mid-20th century. Its researchers developed butyl rubber, a synthetic rubber widely used in tires, in 1937 and helped pioneer fluid catalytic cracking, a refining process that increased gasoline yields, in 1942. In 1959 the company consolidated its U.S. operations under Humble Oil & Refining Company, in which it had held a major interest since 1919.

Seeking a name that could be used nationwide, in 1972 Standard Oil Company (New Jersey) became Exxon Corporation. Many subsidiaries and affiliates, including Humble, also switched to the Exxon name. Many foreign affiliates, however, retained the Esso name.

Exxon’s first decades under its new name coincided with major upheaval in world energy markets. The oil supply shocks of 1973–74 and 1978–79 sent petroleum prices sharply higher and encouraged conservation and development of new sources of oil. Exxon expanded production in areas including the North Sea, where it participated with Shell in development of the giant Brent field, while also investing in coal, nuclear fuels, and other energy and mineral resources.

In December 1998, Exxon and Mobil agreed to merge in a deal valued at about $81 billion. The combination required extensive divestitures to satisfy U.S. antitrust regulators, including more than 2,400 Exxon- and Mobil-branded gasoline stations. The merger was completed on November 30, 1999, creating Exxon Mobil Corporation. In 2026 a newly formed Texas company, ExxonMobil Holdings Corporation (XOM), became the parent company of Exxon Mobil Corporation. The Exxon name continued as an ExxonMobil brand for gasoline and other petroleum products.