Seaboard Oil & Gas Company is sometimes confused with a different venture, Seaboard Oil Company.
Seaboard Oil & Gas Company organized in March 1918 capitalized at $1.5 million. It established offices in Oklahoma. By 1920, the company reported 33 producing oil wells and the income resulted in dividends to investors and the purchase of additional leases and assets.
However, a dispute with the Bank of Oklahoma resulted in extended litigation. Seaboard Oil & Gas nonetheless acquired Mid-Texas Petroleum Company and its producing properties in Young County, Texas. Buy 1922, the company’s profits were substantially diminished because of the reduced market price of oil. Investment analysts urged caution.
“The last statement of the company available to us did not indicate so strong a financial position as to warrant recommendation by us that this stock is deserving of consideration as a speculation at existing prices,” reported United States Investor.
In 1924, the company removed its $5 par value from issued stock, pending listing of a new stock of no par value. The company’s fortunes continued to fade and in 1926, it tried to raise additional funding through an increase in capitalization to $3.5 million with a corresponding stock marketing push.
Stocks were sold as late as 1930, but the company lost its charter and went out of business. No shareholder equity survived at that time. Old Seaboard Oil & Gas Company stock certificates have only collectible value. The other similarly named venture, Seaboard Oil Company, by way of mergers and acquisitions, became part of The Texas Company in 1958.
Read more about companies that rushed to Texas oilfields in the 1920s in Pump Jack Capital Of Texas.
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The stories of exploration and production companies joining petroleum booms (and avoiding busts) can be found updated in Is my Old Oil Stock worth Anything? The American Oil & Gas Historical Society preserves U.S. petroleum history. Please support this AOGHS.ORG energy education website. For membership information, contact bawells@aoghs.org. © 2021 Bruce A. Wells.
