H. Laurance Fuller was chairman and CEO of Amoco Corp. in the 1990s before the company, then based in Chicago, was acquired by British Petroleum Co. to become the world’s third-largest energy producer, BP Amoco.
The merger created a giant in the world of energy but also soon resulted in the demise both of the Amoco name as a corporate entity and, for a time, as a brand of fuel stations.
During Fuller’s time at the helm of Amoco, he worked to streamline operations and pursue growth initiatives in areas such as overseas markets, chemicals and natural gas.
Fuller was a “strong executive, willing to think out of the box (and) easy to be around professionally,” said Phillips 66 board member Douglas Terreson, a former global energy analyst at several Wall Street brokerages, including Morgan Stanley and then at Evercore ISI, who followed Fuller’s career for many years.
Fuller, 84, died of natural causes May 15 at his home on Spring Island, South Carolina, his wife of more than 60 years, Nancy, said. He lived for many years in Wheaton.
Born Harry Laurance Fuller in Moline, Fuller grew up in Park Forest and graduated from Rich Township High School in 1956. He received a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Cornell University in 1961.
Fuller signed on with the Standard Oil Co. of Indiana, working first in its research department, then, after getting a law degree from DePaul University, spent time in Indiana Standard’s law department.
He held various posts before being becoming president of Amoco Oil in 1978, then president of Indiana Standard in 1983, working for the chairman and CEO at the time, Richard Morrow.
By that point, Wall Street analysts were tabbing Fuller as Morrow’s eventual successor. One analyst went further, telling the Tribune in 1983 that “Fuller is really the next Swearingen,” referring to Indiana Standard’s longtime and outspoken CEO, John Swearingen.
In 1985, Indiana Standard became Amoco Corp., and the firm expanded its focus to exploration and production of oil around the world. Boasting plentiful reserves, Amoco also began betting on natural gas.
Fuller took over from Morrow as chairman and CEO of Amoco in early 1991. Fuller assumed the role amid a short-time spike in gasoline prices due to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. Once that situation was resolved, Fuller resumed the company’s focus on increasing energy exploration and production, particularly overseas.
“It’s a matter of opportunity,” he told the Tribune in 1992. “There’s no philosophical desire for us to spend less money in the United States. It’s a matter of geologic opportunity.”
In 1994, Fuller oversaw layoffs at Amoco, including removing an entire layer of management. He attributed the staff reductions to sluggish oil prices, and Amoco’s failure to perform better relative to competing oil companies.
“Companies that are satisfied with mediocrity are liable in one way or another to get themselves in trouble and maybe disappear,” Fuller said in a letter to employees in 1994. “That will not happen to Amoco.”
Fuller sold off Amoco’s motor club and credit card operations, directed more funding into exploration and development of natural gas fields, continued natural gas exploration in the Caribbean and opened the company’s first oil well in the South China Sea.
In 1998, amid a global plunge in energy prices, Amoco announced that it would be sold to BP in a $54 billion deal that would create the world’s third-largest publicly traded energy producer, behind Exxon, which soon afterward would announce its own megamerger with Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell. The deal shocked industry insiders, who had seen multinational oil companies up to that point only favoring project-specific joint ventures.
However, Fuller emphasized in his public statements that the two companies had highly complementary operations. The deal brought together remnants of John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Co., as Amoco previously had been Standard Oil of Indiana, while BP created its North American operations by buying Standard Oil of Ohio in 1986.
“I believe that consolidation in our industry has been inevitable, and I am pleased that we will be able to shape our future,” Fuller wrote in a letter to employees.
As part of the deal, Fuller became co-chairman of the merged company, BP Amoco, and agreed to retire in 2000. At the December 1998 Amoco shareholder meeting at the Hilton Chicago and Towers, Fuller conceded that the deal would alter the once-prominent role that Amoco had occupied in Chicago’s business community.
“We are losing something of our heritage in this transaction,” he said. “But that is more than offset by pride. We are present at the creation of an industry giant. We will achieve pre-eminence.”
Fuller was one of the driving forces behind establishing the Chicago Housing Partnership program, a $50 million multifamily housing rehabilitation program financed by private corporations, large banks and Chicago’s Department of Housing. He also co-authored a 1986 study, The Chicago Report, that took a critical look at how Chicago business related to Chicago government. And he was the 1989 Chairman of United Way/Crusade of Mercy, and the following year co-chaired a task force of the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago.
Fuller also was a onetime chair of the board of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. “Orchestra was a first love,” his wife said.
Fuller had been a member of the Chicago Golf Club in Wheaton since 1978. From 1992 until 2004, he owned a home overlooking the links known as Grey Walls, which was designed by architect Richard Hague.
After retiring and moving from the Chicago area to Spring Island, Fuller was chairman of the Low Country Institute, which preserves and protects Spring Island’s environment and cultural history. He also enjoyed fly fishing, birding and hunting birds, quail and grouse.
Survivors also include two daughters, Kathleen and Laura Bevier; a son, Randall; and five grandchildren.
Burial will be private.
Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.
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