ARCO is known for having low-priced gasoline compared with other national brands, mainly due to an early 1980s decision to emphasize cost cuts (cash only policy) and alternative sources of income (ampm). ARCO is headquartered in La Palma, California.

History

In 1915, Atlantic opens its first gas station on Baum Boulevard in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

In 1917, First Richfield Oil Company of California gas station at Slauson and Central Avenues in Los Angeles, California. Richfield Oil Company of California logo is an Eagle trademark.

Atlantic Refining Company is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

In 1921, Sinclair Oil Company opens first modern service station in Chicago called "Greasing Palace No. 1". Sinclair gets into trouble with Teapot Dome scandal.

In 1966, Atlantic merges with the Richfield Oil Company of California. The first CEO was Robert Orville Anderson. The new company boasts a new trademark, a red diamond shape called the ARCO Spark, designed by Bauhaus artist, designer, and architect Herbert Bayer.

Commercial oil exploration started in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska in the 1960s and the Prudhoe Bay Oil Field, North America's largest oil field, was discovered on March 12, 1968, by Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO) and Exxon with the well Prudhoe Bay State #1. Key employees with ARCO Alaska were Marvin Mangus and John M. Sweet. The Richfield Oil Company of California had purchased the drilling rights to the land where the discovery well was located. British Petroleum had drilling rights near the discovery well.

ARCO acquired Sinclair Oil Corporation in 1969, but later divested certain Sinclair assets during the mid 1970s, resulting in Sinclair returning as a private company. ARCO once had a presence in the southwestern U.S.  — a stretch of Texas State Highway 225 east of Loop 610 in Houston, Texas, had an oil tank farm once painted with the ARCO logo. Lyondell-Citgo would rebrand the oil tanks in the 1980s. ARCO's Corporate Headquarters were in the ARCO Center in Los Angeles at the corner of 5th and Flower Streets before they were acquired by BP. ARCO's Oil & Gas division headquarters were in downtown Dallas, Texas. The headquarters building was a 46-story office building designed by architect I.M. Pei, the ARCO Tower. ARCO closed the Dallas office and sold the building in the mid 1980s. Today, ARCO operates about 1100 stations in five US Western states: California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, and Arizona.

ARCO merged with Anaconda Copper Mining Company (ACM) of Montana in 1977. ACM holdings including the Berkeley Pit and the Anaconda, Montana Smelter. ARCO founder stated "he hoped Anaconda's resources and expertise would help him launch a major shale-oil venture, but that the world oil glut and the declining price of petroleum made shale oil moot." The purchase turned out to be a regrettable decision for ARCO. Lack of experience with hard-rock mining, and a sudden drop in the price of copper to below seventy cents a pound, the lowest in years, caused ARCO to suspend all operations in Butte, Montana. By 1983, only six years after acquiring rights to the "Richest Hill on Earth", the Berkeley Pit was completely idle. By 1986, some ARCO properties were sold to billionaire industrialist Dennis Washington, whose company Montana Resources operates a much smaller open-pit mine east of the defunct Berkeley Pit.

In 1988 Atlantic brand was spun off for ARCO's East Coast stations, and was acquired by Sunoco. The ARCO brand is now used on the West Coast. ARCO specializes in discount gas by removing many frills, among them forcing prepayment for fuel, not accepting credit cards at most locations, and charging $0.45 for use of debit cards. In most locations, it is co-branded with ampm convenience stores, also a division of BP West Coast (ARCO introduced the ampm concept in 1979).

ARCO financed EASTLUND in the beginning of the 1990s for High Auroral Active Research Project (HAARP Project). In March, 1997, ARCO also leased almost all the gas stations of the (now) Santa Fe Springs, California based independent Thrifty Oil group of 250 stations found throughout California after a damaging price war which the independent Thrifty was unable to win.

On April 18, 2000, ARCO was purchased by BP America and was completely merged into BP operations, except for ARCO Alaska which due to FTC requirements was sold by BP to Phillips Petroleum; ARCO as a subsidiary no longer exists.

Over the course of 2004 and 2005, ARCO signs have been replaced. New signs still have the Arco spark, but BP's Helios (BP's new white, yellow, and green "sunburst" mark named after the Greek Sun god, replacing the old British Petroleum shield mark) is also located on the sign. A new tagline "ARCO - part of BP" has also appeared on some signs and advertisements. ARCO is known for sponsoring the ARCO Arena in Sacramento, California, with a license fee of $750,000/year through 2007.

Superfund site

References

External links

* Category:BP subsidiaries Category:Companies based in Orange County, California Category:Companies established in 1966 Category:Oil companies of the United States Category:Standard Oil

''Perfect World'' (, commonly abbreviated as PW and W2), is a 3D adventure and fantasy MMORPG with traditional Chinese settings. Players can take on various roles depending on choice of race and choice of class within that race.

Characters develop skills over time with experience and level up via questing rewards and can use and upgrade physical and magical weapons, and team up with other players to fight against monsters in instances, bosses on the open world as well as other players.

Each player can join a guild (if accepted) and thereby be part of a 200 maximum player base with common goals to achieve. The PW map is broken into a large number of territories which gives guilds an option to conquer and govern such territories via Territory War for reward of ownership usually in the form of coins which are used back to benefit the guild and it's players.

Territory War is an 80 player VS 80 player strategic battle which has a 3 hour maximum time cap with each class belonging to a race having unique roles to perform and team work and strategy is key to sustain victory.

''Perfect World'' is heavily based on Chinese mythology and are set in the mythical world of Pangu. It was launched in January 2006.

Perfect World Boutique/Item Mall

Currency used in the cash shop can be bought from the respective websites of each company running a version of the game. Alternatively, cash shop currency can be bought in the auction house from other players in exchange for in-game currency.

Perfect World International offers pre-charged cards that can be bought from 7-11, Target, and GameStop locations. The Malaysian version allows a player to "Top Up" via CubiCards. Players may also use other payment forms such as Ultimate Game Cards to purchase cash shop currency by using the PayByCash option.

Phone Lock System

See also

References

External links

Category:2005 video games Category:Angel video games Category:Massively multiplayer online role-playing games Category:Video games developed in the People's Republic of China Category:Windows games