Phillips Petroleum Company was founded in 1917 by L.E. Phillips and Frank Phillips, of Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Their younger brother Waite Phillips was the benefactor of Philmont Scout Ranch. The best-known brand of Phillips Petroleum is Phillips 66, named in part for the historic US Highway known as Route 66. Phillips Petroleum was headquartered in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court decided the landmark case of Phillips Petroleum vs. State of Wisconsin which held that under the Natural Gas Act, the federal government should regulate the prices which natural gas producers... charge when selling gas at the wellhead. In 1966, Phillips Petroleum bought Tidewater Oil Company's West Coast operations and rebranded their Flying A outlets to Phillips 66. In late 1984, Mesa Power LP Company, led by T. Boone Pickens, Jr., attempted a hostile takeover of Phillips Petroleum. Phillips remained an independent company but recapitalized with greater debt. On August 30, 2002, Conoco Inc. merged with Phillips Petroleum to form ConocoPhillips.
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