Sinclair Oil Corporation

Sinclair Oil Corporation is an American petroleum corporation founded by Harry F. Sinclair on May 1, 1916. It is presently a subsidiary of HF Sinclair. The Sinclair Oil and Refining Corporation amalgamated the assets of 11 small petroleum companies. Originally a New York corporation, Sinclair Oil reincorporated in Wyoming in 1976. The corporate logo featured the silhouette of a large green Brontosaurus dinosaur. Sinclair adopted the dinosaur as its mascot in 1930, using it as a symbol to emphasise the vast age of petroleum. Although this led to a widespread public misconception that oil came from dinosaurs, Sinclair's own literature stated that their lubricants were derived from Pennsylvania grade crudes that were "mellowing in the ground during the Mesozoic era when dinosaurs populated the earth", not that the oil itself came from dinosaur remains.