Revival and demise
The former Sinclair retail operations struggled, and ARCO abandoned its national ambitions, pulling out of a number of states beginning in the mid-1970s. Meanwhile, ARCO began to find success in Richfield's old West Coast territory as a low-cost gasoline provider. In the early 1980s, ARCO began blending methanol into its gasoline in the Northeast. Concerns over possible damage to automobile fuel systems limited consumer acceptance of the methanol blend and damaged the company's image. Management decided to concentrate on the West Coast market and ARCO sold off its Northeastern interests in 1985. Some were acquired by Shell, notably in New Jersey, but the larger portion went to a new company controlled by Dutch banker and oil trader John Deuss. The new company revived the Atlantic name, discontinued the use of methanol in its gasoline and launched its own convenience store brand, A-Plus.
While Atlantic was able to rebuild its station network during the short time it was owned by Deuss, Deuss's legal problems overseas involving carousel fraud, supplying apartheid South Africa with oil, and an unsuccessful attempt to corner the oil market by colluding with OPEC eventually led to Atlantic to struggle financially. In 1988, Deuss sold Atlantic to fellow Philadelphia oil company Sunoco.[6]
For the next few years Atlantic was marketed separately from Sunoco as a lower-cost brand, and even introducing a new logo. However, in 1993, the decision was made to consolidate the two under one banner to reduce marketing costs, electing to use the more well-known Sunoco brand. In the mid-1990s, Atlantic stations began to be rebranded as Sunoco outlets. The last known Atlantic station, in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, was rebranded as Sunoco in 1996.[7]
Despite multiple oil companies operating multiple brands in the decades since (primarily due to mergers & acquisitions) such as ExxonMobil, Chevron Corporation, BP, Phillips 66, and current ARCO parent Marathon Petroleum, Sunoco has elected not to revive the Atlantic brand.
