 However, after the war Vacuum Oil began facing very strong competition from a number of multinational oil companies which began setting up operations in New Zealand.Among these competitors was the Atlantic Union Oil Company, another of ExxonMobil's historical companies.Atlantic Union was bought by the New Jersey-based Standard Oil Company, which would later become Exxon, and its eastern hemisphere interests were merged with those of Socony-Vacuum Oil Company to create the Standard-Vacuum Oil Company.