Who Owns Sunoco Gas Stations?

Sunoco has been around since 1886, back when it was known as The Sun Oil Company. Over the next 140 years, Sunoco continued to expand and grow, and ownership kept changing. Energy Transfer Partners own Sunoco right now, but it took a while to get to this point. 

Before Sunoco grew to one of the largest gas station chains in the United States with over 5,000 stations, it was founded by People's Natural Gas Company, with Joseph Newton Pew and Edward O. Emerson at the helm, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 1925, opening its first service station around the same time in the same state. 

Sunoco's founder, Pew, passed away in 1912. His son, J. Howard Pew, became the new president. He held that position for 35 years. During this time, Sunoco went through a lot of innovation, from expanding into shipbuilding in 1916, to mining in 1941. Sunoco didn't remain a family business, unlike some smaller gas stations like Carroll.

By 1947, Robert G. Dunlop took over as President of Sunoco. During his leadership, Sunoco created the Custom Blending Pump for dispensing five different gasoline grades from a single pump in 1956. The brand entered the motorsports scene by the 1960s, partnering with the Roger Penske Racing Team and winning the Indianapolis 500 in 1972. As you might know, Sunoco is now the official fuel of NASCAR, and has been for decades.

In the early 1970s, Sunoco merged with the Sunray DX Oil Company. During this decade, a lot of restructuring was going on within the company due to the country's oil crisis. This included moving its headquarters to Radnor, PA, as well as organizing the operations into 14 different units. 

Brian P. MacDonald became Sunoco's president in 2012 after serving as Chief Financial Officer for nearly three years. Energy Transfer Partners, an American energy company, acquired Sunoco in 2012 for around $5.3 billion. "This transaction will enable Sunoco's businesses to realize their full potential by becoming an important part of a diversified leader in the energy industry," said MacDonald at the time. 

The current CEO is Joe Kim, who was previously the Chief Development Officer responsible for of all the mergers and acquisitions. Through all of the recent changes, including the launch of a Sunoco app and loyalty program, Energy Transfer Partners has remained the owner.