Unocal licenses gasoline patents to Williams

Petroleum News Alaska

Unocal Corp. and a unit of Williams said June 5 that they have signed a non-exclusive licensing agreement giving Williams the right to produce and blend cleaner burning gasolines using formulations patented by Unocal.

Effective May 1, the licensing agreement allows Williams to use Unocal’s five patents for Williams fuel production from its 180,000 barrel-per-day refinery in Memphis, Tenn., certain blending facilities throughout Williams’ extensive terminal system, and its imported volumes of reformulated gasoline. Terms of the licensing agreement were not disclosed.

The licensing agreement with Williams is the fifth such contract issued by Unocal since the company unveiled its uniform licensing program in late March. Last month, Unocal signed licensing agreements for its cleaner burning gasoline patents with CITGO Petroleum Corp., Tesoro Petroleum Corp. and two other unnamed companies.

Unocal’s licensing schedule specifies a range of between 1.2 and 3.4 cents per gallon for volumes that fall under the Unocal patents. The licensee’s rate per gallon is reduced as more utilization occurs.

Under the Federal Clean Air Act, reformulated gasoline is now required in many parts of the United States and comprises about one-third of all gasoline sold.

Unocal applied for its initial patent for reformulated gasoline in December 1990 and received its first patent (‘393’) in 1994. Between 1997 and 2000, Unocal received four additional patents for cleaner burning gasolines that were an outgrowth of the original research.