Sunoco

Sunoco LP /səˈnoʊkoʊ/ is an American master limited partnership organized under Delaware state law and headquartered in Dallas, Texas. Dating back to 1886, the company has transformed from a vertically integrated energy company to a distributor of fuels and operator of energy infrastructure. It was previously engaged in oil, natural gas exploration and production, refining, chemical manufacturing, and retail fuel sales, but divested these businesses.

The partnership was known as Sun Oil Company from 1890 to 1976, and as Sun Company Inc. from 1976 to 1998. The Sunoco name is a contraction of SUN Oil Company.

Its current operational focus dates back to 2018, when it divested the non–core convenience store operations to 7-Eleven for $3.2 billion, which allowed for Sunoco LP to improve its financial position. The transaction also provided a long-term take or pay fuel supply agreement with 7-Eleven to generate consistent earnings and cash flows. As of 2024, Sunoco still operates 76 retail locations, all of which are located in New Jersey and Hawaii, the latter branded as Aloha Petroleum, Ltd..

As of 2024, the company distributes over 8 billion U.S. gallons (30 billion liters) of fuel across more than 40 U.S. states and territories, making it one of the largest independent fuel distributors in the United States. Its midstream operations include a network of approximately 14,000 miles (23,000 km) of pipeline and over 100 terminals. It has by far the largest number of gas stations in Pennsylvania at over 800 locations, more than triple that of second-place ExxonMobil, though it is second to convenience store chain Sheetz in total fuel sales in the state.

The partnership began as The Peoples Natural Gas Company in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1886, its partners – Joseph Newton Pew, Philip Pisano, and Edward O. Emerson – decided to expand their fuel business with a stake in the new oil discoveries in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Four years later, the growing enterprise became the Sun Oil Company of Ohio. Sun Oil diversified quickly and became active in the production and distribution of oil as well as processing and marketing refined products. By 1901, the company was incorporated in New Jersey as Sun Company, Inc.

In 1902, the Sun Oil Refining Company was chartered in Texas, as it turned its interest to the new Spindletop field in Texas. Joseph Newton Pew's nephew, J. Edgar Pew, was able to buy the storage and transportation assets of Lone Star and Crescent Oil Company at a receivership auction. Spindletop oil was then shipped to the company's Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania, refinery.

Pew's sons, J. Howard Pew and Joseph N. Pew, Jr. would take over the company after their father's death.

With a growing portfolio of oil fields and refineries, Sun opened its first service station in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, in 1920. In 1922, it changed its name back to Sun Oil Company and, in 1925, it became a public company via an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange. Sun Oil ranked 39th among United States corporations in the value of World War II production contracts. The company expanded internationally following the war. Its first Canadian refinery was built in 1953 in Sarnia, Ontario, home to a burgeoning new petrochemical industry. Sun Oil established a facility at Venezuela's Lake Maracaibo in 1957, which produced over a billion barrels (159 trillion liters) before the operation was nationalized in 1975.