Pacific Western Oil Corporation

Incorporated on November 10, 1928 in Delaware,^[1] Pacific Western Oil was founded to acquire substantially all oil producing properties^[a] and the greater part of undeveloped oil properties in California of the Petroleum Securities Company. The sole stockholders of Petroleum Securities were Edward L. Doheny and his family. Of the 2,000,000 no par shares authorized of Pacific Western Oil Corp, 1,000,000 were outstanding and a block of 670,000 were offered to the public at $24 per share. An additional $15,500,000 were raised with the issue of 6.5% 15-year bonds dated Nov 1, 1928 which came with stock purchase warrants.^[b] The properties acquired were appraised at $43 million.^[4] Jacques Vinmont was the first chairman of the board and William C. McDuffie^[c] was president.^[6] The remaining initial Board of Directors were Earle Bailie, James R. Simpson, Lloyd Gilmour, Charles R. Blyth, Edward Nolan, George L. Eastman, and David P. Babcock.^[7] Pacific Western paid the Dohenys $25,000,000, which was said at the time to be the largest cash transfer in the West.^[8]

J. Paul Getty was elected to the board in 1930. Control of the company passed to Getty on February 9, 1932, the result of a two year campaign of stock accumulation.^[9][10] After this the board was expanded from nine to ten members. H. Paul Grimm was elected the new president of the board. Emil Kluth, H.M. Macomber, Fero Williams, and E.H. Parkford were also elected to the board.^[11]

On May 7, 1935 PWOilCo (operating subsidiary) sold its leaseholds and equipment in the Baldwin Hills (Inglewood) field (acquired in November 1928) and its interest in the Kettleman North Dome (acquired in March 1929) for $12,150,000 ($2,150,000 in cash and purchase and cancellation of $10,000,000 of the 15-year 6.5% bonds.^[d] PWOilCorp was then free of long term debt.^[13][12] The buyer was the Shell Union Oil Corp. / Shell Oil Co. of California.^[14]

The Pacific Western Oil Co. (operating subsidiary) was dissolved on August 29, 1936 and the properties transferred to the holding company^[15] which then effectively changed its character to an operating company. The no par common stock was replaced by $10 par common stock at the end of 1936. There were still 1,000,000 shares outstanding.^[16]

PWO sold $2,100,000 3.5% 10-year notes dated August 1, 1939, proceeds of which were used to pay back to Harris Trust & Savings Bank and First National Bank of Chicago prior loans of $2,100,000.^[17]

J. Paul Getty individually or as trustee in 1941 owned the entire outstanding stock of George F. Getty, Inc. It was agreed that PWO would acquire the entire stock (78,033.2 shares of par $100) in exchange for 1,273,421 newly issued shares of its own stock. When the U.S. Treasury Department refused a request filed August 23, 1941 to allow this transaction to be tax-free, the plan was abandoned. George F. Getty, Inc owned 687,519 PWO shares and a $828,821 PWO promissory note, among other assets, including oil production assets.^[18][19][20] In other words, assuming Getty owned none of the 312,481 remaining PWO shares and, arguendo, that the new treasury stock of 687,519 shares would have been cancelled, Getty's ownership in the merged company would have been 80.3% [1,273,421 / (1,273,421 + 312,481)] up from 68.8%.

The company was awarded the Saudi Arabian half of the Saudi Arabian-Kuwaiti neutral zone joint concession in 1949.^[21]

The company sold $10,000,000 of 3.5% 15-year bonds dated June 1, 1949, proceeds of which together with a $5m bank loan^[e] were used to repay a Feb 21, 1949 $10.5 million bank loan used for the upfront $9.5 million Neutral Zone concession payment and the first $1 million in annual royalty to the Saudi government. $3,303,035 were used to repay a April 29, 1949 loan used to buy 127,777 shares of Tide Water Associated Oil Co. at $25.60 per share and the balance for general corporate purposes.^[22]

The common stock was traded on the New York Curb Exchange until in September 1933 it was listed on the NYSE.^[35]

When the Wafra field was discovered in the Neutral Zone, the stock price went from 28+7⁄8 on March 20, 1953^[62] to 47+3⁄4 on March 31, 1953.^[63]

Effective April 25, 1956 the Pacific Western Oil Corporation was renamed the Getty Oil Company.^[64][65]