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Your Growth is our Bottom Line

At U.S. Oil, we combine data-driven insights and years of experience with an integrated business model to fuel our customer’s growth.

Our customer promise: Finding a better way

This has become our way of doing business. It reflects our shared values and captures the true entrepreneurial spirit of our team members. We challenge the status quo and look for unconventional solutions to create strong, lasting relationships leading to innovative solutions that ultimately give our customers a competitive edge.

Our Reach

We’re a dependable national distributor of refined products.

With over 30 owned or operated terminals, and access to nearly 200 third-party terminal partners across the United States, we have the fuel you need wherever you need it.  

Earth with pulses on North America

Our Legacy

70+

 years of experience delivering tailored solutions more cost-effectively than our competitors.


Corporate Giving

U.S. Venture, Inc. is built on a culture of caring relationships and giving back.

We are committed to challenging ourselves and our partners to address the root causes of poverty and improve the quality of life through collaboration and social innovation. From the U.S. Venture Open golf outing to our efforts in Africa, we encourage you to learn more about our community involvement.

Our Family of Brands

As an innovative leader in the distribution of petroleum and renewable energy products, lubricants, tires and parts, and using data-driven insights to manage energy and information in the global movement of goods, U.S. Venture has invested in finding a better way to do business since 1951.

Our History: An Interactive Timeline

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  • 1951
  • 1954
  • 1958
  • 1961
  • 1963
  • 1966
  • 1969
  • 1974
  • 1977
  • 1985
  • 1986
  • 2010
  • 2015
  • 2016
  • 2017
  • 2018
  • 2019
  • 2020
  • 2022
1951

1951

Brothers Art and Ray Schmidt bought a fuel oil route in Kimberly, Wisconsin, and formed Schmidt Brothers Oil Company. Art’s wife, Gladys, took phone calls, managed delivery schedules, and kept the books from their home in Kimberly. Across town, Ray’s wife, Carol, did the posting of receivables from their home in Kaukauna. They kept the offices in their homes until 1958.

See “How the Company Started.”

1954

1954

Art and Ray changed the company name to Schmidt Oil Co. when their father, Albert, joined his sons in the family business. The brothers gave up some of their stock to make Albert an equal partner. They purchased land in Combined Locks to build bulk tanks that stored oil, as well as a corporate office and the company’s first service and gas station. They hired their first employee, Gordy Hammen, who worked 41 years at the company before retiring. In later years, younger brother, Bill, purchased Albert’s third of the business.

1958

1958

Art and Ray seized the opportunity to purchase a truck load of Cooper Tires at a great price. With no plan or place to put them, they took a risk and bought the product, but were forced to store tires in friends’ and family members’ garages. Not long after, they created a tires and parts division, led by Ray, and built a warehouse so they could begin distribution. That business division is known today as U.S. AutoForce and is one of the largest independent tire distributors.

1961

1961

Bill Schmidt, who was 10 years younger than Art, joined the business full-time after he returned home from serving in the National Guard. Shortly after his homecoming, Bill started what is known today as U.S. Petroleum Equipment out of his car and went on to manage U.S. Lubricants and the truck garage.

1963

1963

The company’s first terminal was purchased in Two Rivers, Wisconsin.

1966

1966

The company was renamed U.S. Oil.

See the story.

1969

1969

The Bulk Motor Oil division began.  This division is now called U.S. Lubricants.

1974

1974

U.S. Oil moved three terminal tanks in Green Bay, WI to make way for Tower Drive Bridge.

1977

1977

U.S. Oil moved three terminal tanks in Green Bay, WI to make way for Tower Drive Bridge.

1985

1985

As the business continued to thrive, the brothers looked for ways to give back to the community. Art, Ray and Bill Schmidt founded the U.S. Venture/Schmidt Family Foundation to honor the legacy of altruism and benevolence of their parents, Albert and Margaret Schmidt.

1986

1986

In August 1986, Bill Schmidt founded the U.S. Venture Open, a golf outing that, since its inception, has raised millions of dollars to help those in need.

2010

2010

The company was renamed U.S. Venture, Inc.

2015

2015

The U.S. Gain Division established with Gain® Clean Fuel brand.

2016

2016

IGEN, a tax filing, reporting and data reconciliation software company was acquired by U.S. Venture.

2017

2017

Art, Ray and Bill Schmidt were inducted into the Wisconsin Business Hall of Fame.

2018

2018

TIRE’s Warehouse was acquired by U.S. Venture.

2019

2019

U.S. Venture moved to full ownership of Breakthrough, a transportation energy and supply chain management company.

2020

2020

U.S. Oil purchased AOT Energy America’s rack business based out of Houston, expanding operations in Texas. This purchase was part of U.S. Oil’s strategy to continue to grow as a national supplier of petroleum products and renewable fuels.

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2020

2020

U.S. Oil purchased the branded wholesale fuel supply businesses of Sasafrasnet, LLC and Esquire Petroleum, LLC to strengthen its fuel marketing footprint in the Chicago market and further support its fuel terminal network. The acquired sites included a mix of 45 Mobil and BP branded locations and joined the nearly 100 Chicago-based dealers currently part of the U.S. Oil family.

2022

2022

U.S. Oil expanded operations on the East Coast with five new locations in South Carolina and Alabama.

Values that Drive Us

Our success is our people. We live for the pursuit of bold ideas, making a positive impact, and achieving our full potential. Our work inspires us to find a better way to change the world.

  • Steve Hamilton with kids

    Caring Relationships

    We encourage our team members to foster fun, friendship, and compassion in all aspects of the job — with one another, our customers, our vendors, and our community partners.

  • Photo of Lori Karls

    Entrepreneurial Spirit

    We lead by taking risks, cultivating ideas, and pushing boundaries to drive change. We inspire our team members to think like business owners, embrace innovation, and believe they can make things better.

  • Photo of Sherry Bevers

    Strategic Foresight

    We’ve built a trusting culture that empowers our team members to think big…driving operational excellence into all aspects of our organization.

  • People accepting medals

    High Performance

    We ask our team members to broaden our perspectives, asking “why” and “when” to help us visualize a future-focused road map for our success.

We will be the very best

integrated supply, marketing, and logistics company providing innovative solutions to the North American refined products and renewable fuels markets.

Ready to Stay Ahead® of the competition?

Address:
425 Better Way Appleton, WI 54915

Phone:
1.800.876.4526

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