Ashland Inc

Ashland was founded in 1924 as Ashland Refining Company of Ashland, Kentucky, by Paul G. Blazer. In 1930, the nearby Tri-State Refining Company was purchased, adding 5,500 barrels per day of capacity to the company. The company continued to merge or acquire other oil companies, combining with Swiss Oil in 1936, Allied Oil in 1948, Aetna Oil in 1949, and purchasing Frontier Oil Refining and National Refining in 1950. By that time, the company began to diversify, adding petrochemicals to its portfolio with the acquisition of R. J. Brown Company in 1956 and United Carbon in 1963.

Diversification continued with the purchase of Warren Brothers in 1966, which later was to become Ashland Paving and Construction. A significant acquisition was made in 1967 when the company purchased ADM Chemical Group; whose chemical distribution business would go on to be one of the primary businesses of the company in the later part of the 20th century. In 1969, the company reorganized to form Ashland Petroleum, as well as entering into a joint venture in Coal miningunder the name Arch Mineral.

In the 1980s and early part of the 1990s, Ashland continued to expand, buying The Permian Corporation and merging it with Scurlock Oil Company in 1991 to form a subsidiary known as Scurlock Permian Corporation. In 1992, most of Unocal's chemical distribution business was acquired, making Ashland the top chemical distributor in North America. At this time, the Industrial Chemicals & Solvents (IC&S) division was established. The company's name was changed from "Ashland Oil" to the present "Ashland Inc." in 1995, which noted the reduced importance of oil in the overall business.

In 1998, the petroleum division merged with Marathon Oil to form Marathon Ashland Petroleum, LLC (MAP). Following that in 1999, Ashland agreed to sell its Scurlock Permian subsidiary to Plains All American Pipeline and the headquarters were moved from Russell, Kentucky, to Covington, Kentucky, although the company maintains an office in Russell. A monumental change came in 2005, when Ashland sold its shares of the Marathon Ashland Petroleum joint venture to Marathon Oil, effectively dissolving the remnants of their petroleum division. After the sale, the company was no longer involved in the refining or marketing of fuels. The original oil refinery in Catlettsburg, Kentucky, is still in operation today and is owned and operated by Marathon. In 2006, Ashland sold APAC (the paving and construction division) to the Oldcastle Materials subsidiary of Oldcastle Inc. of Dublin, Ireland.

Ashland purchased the adhesive and emulsions divisions of Air Products & Chemicals in 2008.

Ashland announced plans to acquire Hercules Inc. on July 11, 2008 for $3.3B. On November 13, 2008, the transaction was completed.

In July 2010 Ashland merged its foundry chemicals activity with Süd-Chemie of Munich, Germany to form ASK Chemicals L.P. with headquarters in Dublin, Ohio.

In November 2010 Ashland announced plans to sell its Distribution business known as Ashland Distribution to TPG Capital for $930 Million. The Ashland Distribution business had been a part of Ashland since 1969. With revenues of $3.4 billion, the Ashland Distribution business had approximately 2,000 employees across North America and Europe, and entered the China plastics market in 2009. The sale was finalized April 1, 2011 with a final sale price of 979 million(USD). The new privately held company is named Nexeo Solutions.

In May 2011 Ashland announced that it had bought the privately owned company International Specialty Products Inc. (ISP) for $3.2 billion. ISP is a supplier of specialty chemicals and performance enhancing products for consumer and industrial markets.

Valvoline Instant Oil Change moved into the Southern California area in March 2012 when the EZ Lube franchise had been purchased by Henley Enterprises, VIOC's largest franchisee.