Introduction

The history of ExxonMobil Pipeline is a complex tapestry woven from the early days of Standard Oil, the court ordered breakup of Standard Oil in 1911, the separation of pipelines from parent companies due to regulatory practices. Along the way there were many changes, but the constant driving force remains to provide shippers transportation services that are safe, efficient, and environmentally responsible.  

Early History

Petroleum pipelines were first developed in Pennsylvania in the 1860s to replace transport in wooden barrels loaded on wagons drawn by mules. This mule drawn transportation was expensive and fraught with difficulties -- leaking barrels, muddy trails, wagon breakdowns and mule/driver problems. The first successful metal pipeline was completed in 1865 and transported 80 barrels per hour of crude oil over a 5 mile route in Western Pennsylvania. Over time this initial success led to the construction of pipelines to connect crude oil production, increasingly moving west as new fields were discovered and Pennsylvania fields declined, to refineries located near major demand centers in the Northeast.  Standard Oil Company built or acquired many of these new pipelines as a part of its major growth in the late 1800s.

Turn of the Century Changes

Two events in the early 1900s dramatically affected the ongoing development of what would become Mobil Pipeline Company and Exxon Pipeline Company.  The first was the antitrust suit filed against Standard Oil Company that resulted in 1911 in the breakup of the original company into more than 30 separate companies, including 10 common carrier pipelines. The second event was the development of state laws, most notably in Texas, which mandated the separation of oil producing companies from pipeline companies.

Growth and the Merger of the Parent Companies  

Two of the largest companies resulting from the 1911 dissolution were Standard Oil Company of New York and Standard Oil Company of New Jersey. Standard Oil Company of New York (SOCONY) became Socony Mobil and eventually Mobil Corporation. Standard Oil Company of New Jersey (SOCNJ) eventually became Exxon Corporation. In the immediate aftermath of the 1911 Supreme Court decision, each of these two companies faced the same challenge. They had major marketing strength on the East Coast but had lost their sources of crude oil and refined products.  Each sought alliances with companies in the developing oil business in Texas to fill this need. Mobil allied itself with Corsicana Refining Company, Magnolia Petroleum Company and Magnolia Pipeline Company. SOCNJ allied itself with Humble Oil Company and Humble Pipeline Company. Along with the parent companies, the pipeline companies grew with the expanding need for petroleum and its products and evolved into the modern, competitive pipeline companies of Mobil Pipe Line and Exxon Pipeline. Mobil Corporation and Exxon Corporation merged in 1999 and this brought the two pipeline companies together as affiliates of Exxon Mobil Corporation. Mobil Pipe Line continues its operations in the same name.  Exxon Pipeline Company was renamed to ExxonMobil Pipeline Company.

ExxonMobil Pipeline Company continues in its quest of being "the best liquids pipeline company in the world, bar none, no matter how one chooses to measure the performance."