Gulf Oil

What Gulf Oil does

Gulf Oil (legal entity Gulf, Inc.) is a U.S. fuel branding and petroleum products company founded in 1901 at the Spindletop oil discovery in Beaumont, Texas. It operates as a subsidiary of family-owned RaceTrac, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The company licenses the Gulf brand to approximately 1,200 independently operated gas stations across 36 U.S. states and Puerto Rico, and supplies branded and unbranded fuel through wholesale channels to commercial and industrial customers. The firm marked its 125th anniversary in January 2026 and is pursuing international expansion, announcing a $150 million commitment in February 2026 to build roughly 100 Gulf-branded stations in Uzbekistan over two years.

The product portfolio centers on Gulf Branded Fuel, Gulf Unbranded Fuel (wholesale), Gulf Pay (a mobile payment and loyalty application), Gulf ROADMAP (a commercial fleet management and fuel procurement portal), and licensed Gulf Merchandise. The technology stack is non-proprietary and oriented around consumer payment convenience (Gulf Pay) and B2B fleet tooling (ROADMAP); no proprietary AI/ML, platform infrastructure, or patents are disclosed. Beyond the core fuel branding business, Gulf extended into specialty lubricants via the 2012 acquisition of Houghton International.

Gulf's business model combines brand-licensing royalties from franchisees with direct fuel product sales (branded and unbranded). The go-to-market is a franchise/licensed-operator distribution model targeting retail drivers (primary) and commercial fleet operators (secondary). Marketing channels include the corporate website, Facebook, Twitter/X, LinkedIn, email, and national PR campaigns (including the 125th anniversary). The company is privately held with no disclosed funding rounds, public ticker, or revenue figures, and its sole identified senior leaders in the data set are Tom Kloza (Chief Energy Advisor) and Camille Nehme (VP Finance and Strategic Development).

Name

Gulf Oil

Legal name

Gulf, Inc.

Website

https://gulfoil.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1901

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1,001–5,000 employees

Short description

Gulf Oil (Gulf, Inc.) is a U.S. fuel branding company founded in 1901 and a subsidiary of family-owned RaceTrac. It licenses the Gulf brand to ~1,200 gas stations across 36 states and Puerto Rico, supplies branded and unbranded wholesale fuel, and serves retail drivers and commercial fleet operators via Gulf Pay and the ROADMAP portal.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Branded Fuel Retail and Petroleum Distribution

NAICS

Gasoline Stations (4571), Petroleum and Petroleum Products Merchant Wholesalers (except Bulk Stations and Terminals) (424720), Fuel Dealers (45721)

SIC

Retail-Auto Dealers & Gasoline Stations (5500), Wholesale-Petroleum & Petroleum Products (No Bulk Stations) (5172)

akta.pro primary industry

Branded Fuels Wholesaling & Jobber Distribution (EUALAIAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Unbranded/Spot Fuels Distribution (Rack Sales) (EUALAIAC), Fuel Pricing, Loyalty & Payments Platforms (POS, Mobile Pay, Fleet Cards, Loyalty Programs) (EUALAIAK), Non-Fuel Retail & Ancillary Forecourt Services (Car Wash, Auto Care, ATM/Lottery, Parcel Lockers) (EUALAIAJ)

Keywords

• Branded fuel retail
• Petroleum products
• Lubricants distribution
• Mobile fuel payment
• Commercial fleet fueling

Headquarters

HQ city

Framingham

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Supply Chain, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Branded Fuel Retail: Gulf Oil generates revenue through licensing its brand to independent gas station operators. The company provides branded fuels, marketing support, and operational frameworks to franchisees operating under the Gulf brand name across approximately 1,200 locations.
2. Fuel Product Sales: Revenue from sale of petroleum products through branded retail locations.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Gulf Oil operates a fuel branding and licensing business that supplies branded gasoline, diesel, lubricants, heating oil, and bio-fuels through a network of approximately 1,200 independently operated franchise stations across 36 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. The company also sells unbranded fuel wholesale to commercial and industrial customers, and supports its network with the Gulf Pay mobile payment application and the ROADMAP commercial fleet portal.

Product overview

Gulf Oil operates as a fuel branding and retail convenience store company under RaceTrac Petroleum (Atlanta), offering a portfolio of fuel products through branded and unbranded channels, mobile payment solutions via Gulf Pay, and a commercial customer portal called ROADMAP. The company maintains approximately 1,200 branded retail locations across 36 states plus Puerto Rico, while also supplying unbranded fuel to wholesale customers. Gulf's product ecosystem centers on physical fuel distribution supplemented by digital payment and loyalty tools.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Gulf Branded Fuel Gulf's primary branded gasoline and diesel offering sold through approximately 1,200 independently operated Gulf-branded retail stations across 36 U.S. states and Puerto Rico.
• Gulf Pay

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• McLaren RacingminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2025Gulf Oil is listed as a sponsorship partner of McLaren Racing in 2025, part of the team's diversified sponsorship portfolio that includes OKX (title partner), Google Cloud, Cisco, Dell Technologies, Pirelli, Hilton, and Richard Mille. The partnership positions Gulf within McLaren's three-tier sponsorship architecture.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Sunoco LP: Sunoco LP operates one of the largest U.S. networks of branded fuel distribution and dealer/wholesale fuel supply. Gulf's branded wholesale and franchise model closely mirrors Sunoco's fuel distribution segment, making it the most direct publicly traded peer.
• CITGO Petroleum: CITGO licenses its brand to ~4,500 branded retail locations across the U.S. through independent marketers. Gulf's ~1,200-site branded franchise model is structurally similar to CITGO's brand-licensing go-to-market.
• RaceTrac: RaceTrac is Gulf's parent company and operates a chain of company-owned convenience stores across the Southeast U.S. It is the most structurally aligned counterparty, sharing ownership and operational synergies with Gulf.
• Murphy USA: Murphy USA operates a large network of company-owned low-cost fuel and convenience stores (~1,750 locations), competing directly with Gulf-branded sites for value-oriented fuel customers.
• Sinclair Oil: Sinclair Oil supplies branded motor fuels to independent retailers across ~1,300 U.S. locations. Its franchise brand-licensing approach and station footprint scale are highly comparable to Gulf's.

Broad incumbents

• QuikTrip: QuikTrip operates ~1,000 company-owned convenience stores with proprietary fuel supply across the Midwest, South, and Southeast. Its private, vertically integrated model competes for the same retail fuel customer as Gulf's branded network.
• BP America: BP markets branded fuels across thousands of U.S. sites and competes with Gulf for independent dealer licenses; its ampm convenience format overlaps with the forecourt/loyalty ecosystem Gulf operates in.
• Conoco (76 / Phillips 66): Phillips 66 markets 76-branded and Phillips 66-branded fuels through thousands of U.S. stations. Its branded wholesale/franchise program competes head-to-head with Gulf for independent dealer accounts.
• Shell USA: Shell operates the largest fuel retail network in the U.S. and a sophisticated loyalty/payments platform (Shell Pay, Fuel Rewards). It competes with Gulf across the full stack: wholesale supply, branding, and digital.
• Wawa: Wawa operates ~1,000 company-owned convenience stores with integrated fueling across the Mid-Atlantic and Florida. It competes with Gulf-branded sites in overlapping geographies and shares the brand-loyalty retail fuel model.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/gulfoil
• Facebookfacebook.com/gulfoil.lp
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/gulf-oil

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A1 record

Investments2 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Gulf Oil