From Latin flÅ«ctuÄns, flÅ«ctuant- , present participle of flÅ«ctuÄre, to fluctuate; see fluctuate. adjective. 1  Subject to change or variation: variable: fluctuant oil prices. 2  Medicine Capable of being moved or compressed.3  Used of an abnormal mass such as a tumor or abscess. 4  Moving in waves.djective. 1  Subject to change or variation: variable: fluctuant oil prices. 2  Medicine Capable of being moved or compressed. 3  Moving in waves.
Like Gulf Oil, Texaco was founded in 1901 after a major oil strike at Spindletop near Beaumont, Texas. The company was officially incorporated as The Texas Company in 1902 and the word Texaco was first used as a brand (for asphalt, not gasoline) in 1903.
Spindletop in 1901 saw the earliest beginnings of the petroleum company that would become Gulf Oil Corporation (bought by Chevron Corporation in 1984). The oil strike at Spindletop also spawned the oil giants Texaco (founded as the Texas Fuel Company), Amoco and the Humble Oil Company (later Exxon Company USA). In its first year, Spindletop produced more than 3.5 million barrels of oil; in its second, production rose to 17.4 million.