Esso /ˈɛsoʊ/ s-o is an international trade name for ExxonMobil and its related companies. The name is derived from the initials of the pre-1911 Standard Oil, and as such became the focus of much litigation and regulatory restriction in the United States. In 1972, it was largely replaced in the U.S. by the Exxon brand after it bought Humble Oil, while Esso remained widely used elsewhere. In most of the world, the Esso brand and the Mobil brand are the primary brand names of ExxonMobil, with the Exxon brand name still in use only in the United States alongside Mobil.

An Esso station in Stabekk, Norway (2006).

A combination gasoline/diesel pump at an Exxon in Zelienople, Pennsylvania (2008).

An Esso service station in Northallerton, North Yorkshire

History[link]

This section requires expansion.

In 1911, Standard Oil was broken up into 34 companies, some of which were named "Standard Oil" and had the rights to that brand in certain states (the other companies that had no territorial rights). Standard Oil of New Jersey ("Jersey Standard") had the rights in that state, plus in Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and the District of Columbia. By 1941, it had also acquired the rights in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Louisiana. In those states, it marketed its products under the brand "Esso", the phonetic pronunciation of the letters "S" and "O". It also used the Esso brand in New York and the six New England states, where the Standard Oil Company of New York (Socony - Vacuum, later Socony - Mobil) had the rights, but did not object to the New Jersey company's use of the trademark (the two companies did not merge until 1998). However, in the other states, the other Standard Oil companies objected and forced Jersey Standard to use other brand names. In most states the company used the trademark "Enco", and in a few "Humble". The other Standard companies likewise were "Standard" or some variant on that in their home states, and another brand name in other states.

During the years of racial segregation in the United States, Esso was unusual in its willingness to offer gas station franchises to African Americans.^[1]

In 1973, Standard Oil of New Jersey renamed itself as the Exxon Corporation, and adopted that trademark throughout the country. It however maintained the rights to "Standard" and "Esso" in the states where it held those rights, by a token effort, by selling "Esso Diesel" in those states at stations that sell diesel fuel, thus preventing the trademark from being declared abandoned. It retained the "Esso" brand in Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands until 2008, when it sold its stations there to Total S.A.^[2] The Enco brand name was still used on locations in the Midwest, which were scheduled for abandonment.^[3]

United Kingdom[link]

An Esso service station in Wetherby, West Yorkshire.

Esso Blue[link]

Esso Blue was the brand name of Esso's paraffin oil (kerosene) for domestic heaters in countries such as the United Kingdom. Their TV advertising song from the 1950s through to the 1970s was the famous "Bom, Bom, Bom, Bom, Esso Blue!" A later campaign used the well-known song tune of "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" cleverly reworded as:^[4]:"They asked me how I knew, it was Esso Blue, I of course replied, with lower grades one buys, smoke gets in your eyes. The non-smoking paraffin". The track was released as a flexi disk which was given away for free in hardware stores.^[5]

Cleveland[link]

In the 1930s Esso acquired Cleveland, an independent company based in North East England. The name comes from the Cleveland Hills. Cleveland's products included a benzole blend and an alcohol blend called Discol. Both the Esso and Cleveland names continued in use until 1973, when the Cleveland filling stations were re-branded as Esso.

Canada[link]

An Esso location in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada.

In Canada, the Esso brand is used on stations operated by Imperial Oil, which is 69.8% owned by ExxonMobil. Esso also provides aviation fuel services at 80 airport locations in Canada (Aviation and Avitat).

In February 2007, a combination of a fire at the Nanticoke Refinery and a strike at Canadian National Railway resulted in a shortage of gasoline at Esso stations in Ontario, driving up prices and causing shortages in competitor's stations, both in Ontario and neighbouring Quebec.^{[citation needed]}

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Esso

• ExxonMobil website
• Gas Station Photographs - The Thom Hindle Collection

Natalia Oreiro
Background information
Birth name	Natalia Marisa Oreiro Iglesias
Born	(1977-05-19) May 19, 1977 (age 35)
Origin	Montevideo, Uruguay
Genres	Latin pop, rock
Occupations	Singer, songwriter, actress, model
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	1990s–present
Labels	BMG – Ariola
Website	Official website

Natalia Marisa Oreiro Iglesias (born May 19, 1977 in Montevideo, Uruguay) is a Latin Grammy-nominated Uruguayan singer, actress and fashion designer of Galician ancestry, who developed most of her career in Argentina. Oreiro began her career in telenovelas. Since 2008 she has switched to work primarily in films. Oreiro has worked on social awareness shows and events for organizations like Greenpeace and UNICEF, the latter of which designated her as ambassador for Argentina and Uruguay in September 2011. She has been included in Esquire magazine's "The Sexiest Woman Alive Atlas" list.^[1] In 2012, La Nación named her the queen of telenovelas.^[2]

Life and career[link]

1977–2000: Early life and career beginnings[link]

Natalia Oreiro, daughter of Carlos Florencio Oreiro Poggio and Mabel Cristina Iglesias Bourié, was born on May 19, 1977. Natalia studied drama at the age of eight and at twelve started auditioning for advertisements. During her teens she appeared in more than 30 television commercials for such trade marks as Coca Cola, Pepsi and Johnson & Johnson. At the age of 16 she moved to Argentina to work there and unleash her ambition to be a star. She worked as an MTV VJ and in 1995, she landed a role in the soap opera Dulce Ana. She was then cast in the TV series 90-60-90 modelos (1996) and next in Ricos y famosos (1997, playing Valeria). Next, she starred in the Argentinian film Un Argentino en New York (1998). After the movie, Natalia launched her first album, Natalia Oreiro and the single "Cambio dolor" became the opening theme for her next acting project, the prime time show Muñeca Brava (1998–1999). For her performance in Muñeca Brava, Natalia was nominated twice (1998 and 1999) for a Martín Fierro Award as best actress in a leading role. In January 2000, Natalia was named "Celebrity of the Year" by E! Entertainment Television. She became popular in Russia due to the success of Muñeca brava in that country and was even invited to star in a Russian telenovela.

[edit] 2000–2002: Tu Veneno and Turmalina

She pursued her musical career with the next album Tu Veneno and presentations in Gala de la Hispanidad, Gala de Murcia (both in Spain) and Festival de la Calle 8 in Miami. Her most important appearance was in the prestigious Latin television show Sábado Gigante Internacional, hosted by Don Francisco. Natalia's major achievement at this time was her music performance in Chile at Viña del Mar Festival 2000 for which she was crowned Queen of that event.^[3] The album scored a Latin Grammy nomination for Best Pop Female Vocal Album, but lost to Christina Aguilera's Mi Reflejo.

On June 1, 2002, her third studio album Turmalina was released by BMG Ariola Argentina. Turmalina was produced by Latin record producer Kike Santander and is a combination of rhythms such as rock, pop and some sort of reminiscent of the 70's and 80's sounds. On this album, Oreiro write and composed the songs: "Alas de libertad" which is inspired by kids she met some time ago in the city of Jujuy, Argentina; "Mar" tells the love story between a sailor and his girlfriend. Natalia also contributed to the lyrics of "Cayendo". "Que Digan Lo Que Quieran" is Turmalina's first single. Official Uruguayan 2002 World Cup song "Pasión Celeste" is recorded with Fredy Bessio.^[4] "Cuesta arriba, cuesta abajo" was opening song of soap opera Kachorra (Runaway Lady). Kachorra ended with a rating lower than 20 points in Argentina.^[5]

[edit] 2002–present: Cleopatra, Sos mi vida and other works

Natalia Oreiro in September 2010

In March 2003 she started filming her second film Cleopatra together with Norma Aleandro, Leonardo Sbaraglia and Héctor Alterio, under the direction of Eduardo Mignogna, a co-production with Spain. In the middle of 2003, she started a tour for Eastern Europe and Latin America. On March 1, 2004 she started filming El Deseo. In 2006 she joined as the female boxer, Esperanza Munoz, in the cast of the telenovela Sos mi vida along with her Muñeca brava co-star Facundo Arana. It was directed by Rodolfo Antúnez and Jorge Bechara and broadcast by Canal 13. It began broadcasting on January 16, 2006 and ending January 9, 2007, and during its broadcast averaged 26.9 points overall rating.^[6] It was written by Ernesto Korovsky and Sebastian Parrotta, and won four Martín Fierro Awards and three Clarín Awards.

On April 30, 2008, Oreiro starred in Amanda O which is a series of internet television in Argentina and produced by Dori Media Group. It was first soap opera made for internet,^[7] and was seen by 550,000 users over Novebox.com, from Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay during its first season and beginning of the second.^[8]

Discography[link]

• Natalia Oreiro (1998)
• Tu Veneno (2000)
• Turmalina (2002)

Artistic career[link]

Television[link]

Filmography[link]

Natalia Oreiero at Cannes in 2007.

References[link]

1. ^ Natalia Oreiro Sexy Picture. Esquire (2010-07-30). Retrieved on 2011-11-12.
2. ^ La fórmula secreta de la reina de la telenovela. La Nación (2012-03-03). Retrieved on 2012-03-03.
3. ^ "Natalia Oreiro: ensalada rusa" (in Spanish). http://edant.clarin.com/diario/2005/09/11/sociedad/s-1050638.htm. 
4. ^ "Turmalina Review". allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/album/turmalina-r607446. 
5. ^ "Kachorra". http://telepedia.novebox.com/telepedia/show/kachorra-0. 
6. ^ "Sos mi vida" llegó a su fin^{[dead link]}
7. ^ "Bizarra y ambigua". http://www.clarin.com/diario/2008/11/16/espectaculos/c-00601.htm. Retrieved 2009-01-31. 
8. ^ ""Amanda O", camino al gran fina". http://www.novebox.com/article/amanda-o-camino-al-gran-final. Retrieved 2009-03-03. 
9. ^ ^{a b} For awards: "Bio, Awards". http://nataliaoreiro.com/bio_en.html. 
10. ^ "Natalia awarded in Uruguay". http://www.nataliaoreiro.com/news/2011/05/natalia-awarded-in-uruguay/. Retrieved June 2, 2011. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Natalia Oreiro

• Official website
• Natalia Oreiro at the Internet Movie Database
• Official Youtube Channel
• Natalia Oreiro at cinenacional.com