Misplaced Pages

German-American Petroleum Company

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.

Deutsch-Amerikanische Petroleum Gesellschaft , also known as German-American Petroleum Company , was a German petroleum company that was a subsidiary of Standard Oil and was founded in 1890. From 1950 onwards the company was called Esso Deutschland GmbH and has been a subsidiary of the ExxonMobil group since 1999.

#239760

47-576: On 25 February 1890 a joint venture between the German industrialists Franz Ernst Schütte , Carl Schütte  [ de ] and Wilhelm Anton Riedemann  [ de ] and the American industrialist John D. Rockefeller was agreed in the German city of Bremen to create a subsidiary of Standard Oil that would operate as a petroleum business in Germany. In 1891, the petrol import business of Edmund Siemers

94-453: A fund raiser among fellow members of the city's business elite, during what was a period of unprecedented commercial expansion. The city owes its "new" city hall and its Botanical Gardens to his philanthropy, along with the rebuilding between 1888 and 1901 of the west end of Bremen Cathedral in the confident "Gothic revival" style favoured for prestigious public buildings in central and western Europe during this period. Franz Schütte

141-1238: A hand in the design of the grave. The material used is Untersberger Marble . Despite the involvement of celebrated artistic figures in its execution and the use of expensive stone, the overall effect of the design is not over-elaborate. Karl Lindemann Look for Karl Lindemann on one of Misplaced Pages's sister projects : [REDACTED] Wiktionary (dictionary) [REDACTED] Wikibooks (textbooks) [REDACTED] Wikiquote (quotations) [REDACTED] Wikisource (library) [REDACTED] Wikiversity (learning resources) [REDACTED] Commons (media) [REDACTED] Wikivoyage (travel guide) [REDACTED] Wikinews (news source) [REDACTED] Wikidata (linked database) [REDACTED] Wikispecies (species directory) Misplaced Pages does not have an article with this exact name. Please search for Karl Lindemann in Misplaced Pages to check for alternative titles or spellings. You need to log in or create an account and be autoconfirmed to create new articles. Alternatively, you can use

188-508: A lighting fuel and lubricant - from Pennsylvania in 1858. During 1863 and 1864 the focus of the entire business switched to petroleum importation. The market grew rapidly: within it "Handelshaus Albt. Nic. Schütte & Sohn" also grew, becoming, the most important petroleum trading company in Germany by the end of the century. The nature of the business involved working closely with the shipping magnate Wilhelm Anton Riedemann (1832–1919) . During

235-568: A member of the Bremen state parliament ( "Bürgerschaft" ) . Three years after unification , in 1874, he also became Bremen's representative at the "Hanseatische Handelsstand" trade bureau, which now lobbied the government in Berlin to sustain that commitment to the international free trade under which the northern sea ports had prospered under the North German Confederation . Construction of

282-435: A number of important restoration projects, securing the necessary funding and then personally overseeing planning and construction in respect of the more important ones. Schütte became a member of the executive committee for the association looking after the city's parks and other open important spaces in 1876. Between 1877 and 1911 he chaired the association. For not quite twelve years, between 1867 and 1878, he served as

329-579: A part-owner of the family business since January 1861. The brothers now took over at "Handelshaus Albt. Nic. Schütte & Sohn". At this stage the company's principal activity involved the importation to northern Europe of tobacco, but there were already growing quantities of other US imports traded, as the rapid development of rail transport and the increasing reliability of transatlantic shipping opened up world commodity markets to US agriculture. The company had made its first foray into importing and marketing petroleum – at that time principally used as

376-465: A sum equivalent to the monies lost through the failure of the "Stephan Lürman & Sohn" bank. He also commissioned and donated various slightly more discreetly located monumental fountains and statues to the city such as the Turmbläserbrunnen ( loosely, "hornblowers fountain" ) by the cathedral and the "Rosselenker" (statue of a naked man with a horse) commissioned from Tuaillon , and placed by

423-512: The Benzene association scientist, Walter Oswald had developed a super-gasoline in 1924 by adding benzene to gasoline., a DAPG delivery agreement enabled them to also offer a knock-resistant super gasoline by adding about 40% benzene. This product was called Duolin and sold in September 1928 as red-coloured Esso. A 10% benzene was added to the dapoline fuel to increase the knock resistance. In 1928

470-601: The Freundeskreis der Wirtschaft . Oil production in the Reich expanded significantly during World War II, especially in the occupied countries - with Romania alone accounting for 3.3 million barrels in 1938 and producing 8 million barrels for German export in 1940—a staggering increase of 4.7 million barrels in only two years. The number of people employed in oil production grew substantially from 1939 to 1944, including many forced labourers and prisoners of war from Poland, Ukraine and

517-564: The Kagran area of Vienna From 1938 onwards the company had holdings in Hydrierwerke Pölitz  [ de ] AG in Pölitz near Stettin, together with IG Farben , who responsible for the production of the chemical Zyklon B for gas chambers , and Rhenania-Ossag. At the start of World War II , the German economy was converted to a war footing and all petroleum distribution companies in

SECTION 10

#1732884600240

564-647: The Osterdeich available for a term of 25 years for the creation of a Botanical Garden alongside the river on the edge of the city. The garden was set out by the young botanist Friedrich August Georg Bitter and the Swiss horticulturalist Ernst Nußbaumer. It opened in 1905 to widespread acclaim, with Bitter as its first director. Bitter later moved on to a professorship in Botany at Göttingen while Nußbaumer stayed in Bremen to progress

611-469: The article wizard to submit a draft for review, or request a new article . Search for " Karl Lindemann " in existing articles. Look for pages within Misplaced Pages that link to this title . Other reasons this message may be displayed: If a page was recently created here, it may not be visible yet because of a delay in updating the database; wait a few minutes or try the purge function . Titles on Misplaced Pages are case sensitive except for

658-616: The "Petroleum Import Compagnie" (PICO) company was established with equivalent objectives in Zürich . The German and Italian companies both held significant shareholdings in the Swiss company, and all three worked closely together. The ownership structures of these and other companies set up with financial backing from Rockefeller , becoming increasingly complex between 1890 and 1910 in ways that combined cross-shareholdings with increasingly effective centralised coordination from New Jersey. Italian, Swiss and German companies would all be rebranded during

705-447: The American oil company sold so many shares at that time, that the three companies each owned a third of the shares. In 1930, the supply regulation of potato spirit for fuel purposes came into force in Germany for all fuel companies. In each case, 2.5% by weight of the produced or imported quantity of fuel was to be obtained from the Reich monopoly administration. This rate increased gradually until October 1932 to 10%. In 1931 DAPOLIN

752-634: The Argo Steamship company which concentrated on routes connecting Bremen with Scandinavia and the Levant . In 1899 Bremer Vulkan delivered Argo's first passenger ship, the eleven-passenger steam yacht "Andrej Perwoswannij" , designed and built for a long-term charter to the imperial Russian government. Schütte joined the Bremen Chamber of Commerce in 1869, serving as its "Präses" (president) between 1876 and 1878. He used this as an opportunity to focus on

799-586: The Association of Petroleum Distribution were merged and only gasoline with no attached branding was sold. As the German-American Petroleum Company was still considered a German Company it was put on the List of Defense Contractors and received preferential material quotation. Two directors of the company, Karl Lindemann  [ de ] and Emil Helfferich  [ de ] were members of

846-470: The Schütte brothers teamed up with Riedemann and the stateside oil magnate John D. Rockefeller to found the "Deutsch-Amerikanische Petroleum Gesellschaft" (DAPG / "German-American Petroleum Company" ) , an "Aktiengesellschaft" (loosely, "public limited company") in Bremen . From the outset the American investors were represented on the company's supervisory board and exercised very significant influence on

893-585: The Soviet Union. German domestic oil production rose significantly during the course of the second world war, until allied bombing campaign in 1944. In January 1944, total synthetic petroleum output was approximately 3.6 million barrels. In June, the month after the Allied petroleum raids began, production dropped by one-third to 2.2 million barrels. By the end of 1944 it had dropped another one-third, plummeting to 1.2 million barrels. The German-American Petroleum Company

940-445: The city's medieval ramparts (now a focus of a city park). Schütte's prodigious spending on the city was not restricted to tangible stone structures. He was also an effective supporter of the live arts and of education in Bremen. In 1902 he spent 100,000 marks to set up and endow the "Bremen Schiller foundation" ( "bremische Schillerstiftung" ) to provide access for state school pupils to several theatre performances each year. Despite

987-420: The combination in close proximity of a cargo of combustible oil with a "fire powered" propulsion system, turned out to be the prototype for several generations of oil tankers and "super tankers" that would ply the world's oceans through the twentieth century and beyond its end. By 1889 there were fifteen oil tankers, and the traditional practice of storing petroleum in barrels in warehouses had been superseded by

SECTION 20

#1732884600240

1034-511: The earlier 1880s the petroleum was transported in barrels on steam freighters. In 1886, for the first time, a consignment of petroleum destined for distribution by Schütte crossed the Atlantic in the "Glückauf" , the first German-owned (although it had to be "converted in England" ) ocean going oil tanker. The "Glückauf" , considered by German ship builders to be based on a fatally flawed concept, given

1081-473: The extent of his charitable giving while alive, Schütte still died a formidably wealthy man. There is no mention in sources of his having married or fathered any children, though by the time of his death he had nieces and nephews in abundance. Five years after he died, in 1916, his heirs set up the "Franz Schütte Foundation" which continues to fund a range of education and arts-related projects, targeting in particular young people with exceptional talents but without

1128-401: The formal unveiling of the monument on 22 March 1905. In 1891 Schütte submitted proposals for the construction of a new and enlarged city hall. He commissioned detailed plans from Max Salzmann , the architect who, having won a competition for the contract, was already working on the comprehensive restoration of the northern facade of the city's cathedral across the former market square from

1175-640: The help of their non-executable foreign exchange reserves, took over half of Oelhag. At this time, the Standard Oil of New Jersey owned 94% of the German-American Petroleum Society. As a result of the Anschluss of Austria in 1938 and the subsequent reorganization of the local industry, the Vacuum Oil Company was assigned to the German-American Petroleum Society along with its refinery in

1222-437: The higher part of the tower needing to be rebuilt. The restoration was based on surviving images and technical drawings from the seventeenth century, but a certain amount of interpretation was also involved. Between 1888 and 1901 Schütte devoted considerable time and energy to funding and oversight of the restoration and reconstruction project. In 1904 Schütte made a plot of land of slightly more than 4 hectares (9.9 acres) by

1269-431: The latter part of 1888, before his death from throat cancer. Conservatives had mistrusted his liberal propensities, which many blamed on his strong willed (supposedly "English") wife . In Bremen, the erection of his memorial was appropriately contentious. When it came to planning the memorial Schütte found himself in intense disputation alongside the "progressive" museum director (and art critic) Gustav Pauli and opposed to

1316-419: The lead, alongside the city's mayor Alfred Dominicus Pauli , in fund-raising for Bremen's Bismarck monument . A committee created to oversee the project held its first meeting just three weeks after the former Chancellor's death in 1898. When 207,000 Marks that had been collected were lost because of a bank collapse it was Schütte, supported by senators and fellow merchants, who managed within 48 hours to amass

1363-587: The management of the business, although they were determined that the company should be seen as a German company; and it was not till 1904 that the New Jersey –based Standard Oil Company took a 50% holding in the DAPG . The DAPG company was renamed "Esso AG" in 1950. The next year saw the foundation in Venice of the "Società italo-americana del petrolio" (SIAP) by Benedetto Walter , jointly with Rockefeller . Three years later

1410-450: The money necessary to develop these properly. Following his death at Bremen on 1 February 1911, Franz Schütte's mortal remains were buried at Bremen's Riensberger Cemetery , under a family-sized grave plot. On the surface, at one end of the grave, is the stone figure on an angel playing a lute. She is the work of Adolf von Hildebrand , one of the leading German sculptors of the time. The architects Carl Eeg and Eduard Runge each also had

1457-485: The more traditionalist approach represented by the respected conservative artist Arthur Fitger . The whole business became caught up in a wider inter-generational clash within the Bremen artistic establishment. In the end the sculptor finally appointed by Schütte in 1902 to produce the statue, Louis Tuaillon , seems to have taken matters into his own hands. He departed extensively from the guidelines with which he had been provided, with results that seriously alarmed many in

German-American Petroleum Company - Misplaced Pages Continue

1504-521: The project. Unfortunately progress was halted and maintenance was neglected during the First World War : in 1923 - twelve years after the death of the original benefactor - the city took over the funding for its maintenance. Twelve years after that, in 1935, the Botanical Garden was relocated entirety to its present site, where it had been expanded to its present 3extent by approximately 1950. He

1551-538: The proposed site of the city hall extension . These plans were never implemented, so Schütte took a more direct approach with the senators. He purchased the plot of land in question from the city authorities for 2,500,000 marks, but included in the purchase contract the express condition that the city authorities must use the money to build the new administrative building as an extension to the existing city hall . Construction took place, following extensive wrangling, between 1909 and completion in 1913. Schütte also took

1598-419: The senate. The late emperor had been reclothed, and now appeared on his (traditionally imperial) horse dressed as a Roman emperor. The result came uncomfortably close to one of the "heroic nudes" for which, in fairness, Tuaillon was already well-known. Fortunately the emperor liked it, however, stating that "he had never before seen his father so beautifully portrayed" Emperor Wilhelm personally took part in

1645-528: The supervisory board during the early years. The business remained profitable through much of the twentieth century, but then, following two decades of mergers, acquisitions and increasingly frantic restructuring across the European shipbuilding sector, collapsed in a high-profile bankruptcy in 1996/97. Other businesses Schütte founded in the 1890s included the "Bremen-Vegesacker-Heringsfischereigesellschaft". In 1896 he teamed up with Friedrich Bischoff to set up

1692-562: The tanker shipping company of the German-American Petroleum Society was renamed to the Waried Tankschiff Rhederei  [ de ] GmbH. During the global economic crisis , the shares of MAN and Haniel in the Oelhag , the German petroleum company were bought by the German-American Petroleum Society and the German mineral oil company Rhenania-Ossag  [ de ] , that would be later called, Shell Germany Oil GmbH. ARCO ,

1739-446: The transport challenges facing Bremen and northern Germany more broadly. He was, in particular, supportive of the construction of a " Mittelland Canal ". Work on the canal finally started in 1906. In 1881 he took on the role of "Bauherr" for building and maintenance of the city's churches and especially, in this instance, for the cathedral , which had become degraded, through the passage of time, and through neglect. He pushed through

1786-542: The twentieth century with the "Esso" name. In 1893 Schütte purchased the Shipyard at Vegesack which had been set up after 1805 by Johann Lange . With others, he used the site to set up what now became the "Bremer Vulkan Schiffbau und Maschinenfabrik in Vegesack" with an initial share capital of 300,000 marks. The new company was added as a Public Limited Company the Bremen companies register on 23 October 1893. Franz Schütte

1833-448: The two towers at the west end of Bremen Cathedral and the repainting and decoration of the building's interior were funded by Schütte, partly out of his own pocket and partly through his fundraising activities. The stump of the south tower, which had collapsed in 1638, was completely removed in order that a stable replacement tower could be erected. It is thought some of the lower portions of the north tower were probably retained, with only

1880-450: The use of large purpose-built oil-reservoirs. Over time competitors would adopt similar practices, but throughout the 1890s (and in many respects for much longer) the business retained a massive competitive advantage over putative competitors. The capital investment necessary was massive, but once the investment had been made, the company seems to have been extraordinarily lucrative for its owners, both in Germany and internationally. In 1890

1927-405: Was a decisive financial backer for Bremen's Friedrich III memorial , contributing 150,000 marks of his own at a time when some were still unpersuaded as to whether the trouble and expense of erecting a full imperial memorial could really be justified for an emperor whose reign had lasted barely more than three months. Friedrich had been a controversial emperor who had reigned for just 99 days, during

German-American Petroleum Company - Misplaced Pages Continue

1974-711: Was born in Bremen , the son of businessman Albrecht Nicolaus Schütte (1799–1862) by his marriage to the lawyer's daughter Louise Regine Walte (1812–1869). Franz was the eldest of his parents' five recorded children. He completed a commercial apprenticeship with the tobacco company Lüttge und Horst, and then, accompanied by his younger brother Carl , undertook a length stay in the United States in order further to expand his and his brother's business knowledge and understanding. His father died in March 1862, by which time Franz and Carl Schütte were back in Germany. Franz Schütte had been

2021-463: Was on account of his oil importing activities, which included the establishment of the "Deutsch-Amerikanische Petroleum Gesellschaft" (DAPG / "German-American Petroleum Company" ) in 1890, that Schütte acquired the popular soubriquet "The Petroleum King". (The DAPG company was renamed "Esso AG" in 1950.) In his home city Schütte is also remembered as a massively effective Bremen benefactor, both through his own donations and through his effectiveness as

2068-606: Was renamed Esso AG in 1950 and then Esso Deutschland GmbH in 1999. It is now part of the ExxonMobil group. The name Esso is the phonetic pronunciation of the initials 'S' and 'O' in the name Standard Oil . Franz Ernst Sch%C3%BCtte Franz Ernst Schütte (21 November 1836 – 1 February 1911) was a German entrepreneur-businessman who during his lifetime became celebrated for the extent of his wealth. Although his business activities extended across several different sectors, including shipbuilding and land reclamation-development, it

2115-513: Was renamed Standard Gasoline. In 1935, the German-American Petroleum Company was the market leader in Germany among the Big Five petrol station chains with 18,327 petrol stations (32.7%) as well as with Rhenania-Ossag with a sales ratio of 20.9%. During 1937-1938, the brand was renamed to ESSO . Later in 1938, the new ESSO brand was printed on the cover sheet of the drivers manual. In 1938, German-American Petroleum Company and Rhenania-Ossag, with

2162-407: Was the largest investor, with 20% of the share capital. Another major shareholder, with 8% of the company, was the ambitious engineer Victor Nawatzki , who was installed to run the business as "Generaldirektor", a position he would fill with conspicuous success through two decades of profitable expansion before assuming the chairmanship of the supervisory board. Schütte himself held the chairmanship of

2209-552: Was transferred to the company In the mid-1890s, the company took over half of the shares of the Bremen Petroleum Refinery. At the beginning of the 20th century, the petroleum was sold under the brand DAPOL and the American gasoline under the brand DAPOLIN with the famous Indian head. In 1904, the Standard Oil Company took a 50 percent stake in the company and moved the company's headquarters to Hamburg. After

#239760