Ipiranga is a Brazilian fuel company and is a subsidiary of Ultra. It is the second-largest Brazilian fuel distribution company, and the largest in the private sector. The company has about 6,500 gas stations across the country and 1,400 convenience stores. Ipiranga owns the am/pm chain of convenience stores, Jet Oil oil change services, Km de Vantagens loyalty program, and ConectCar prepaid system for electronic payment of tolls and parking. The company's headquarter is in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Etymology Ipiranga combines the indigenous Tupi words ‘y (river) and pirang (red) to mean “red river”. History Destilaria Rio-Grandense de Petróleo S.A., the first Brazilian distillery, was founded in November 1934 by Brazilian and Argentinian investors in Uruguaiana, state of Rio Grande do Sul. The distillery produced full-scale gasoline, kerosene, diesel oil, and fuel oil. In August 1936, the owners of Destilaria Rio-Grandense de Petróleo partnered with a group of Uruguayan investors and created Ipiranga SA, a Brazilian oil company. The new company was headquartered in Rio Grande. On September 7, 1937, the Refinaria de Petróleo Riograndense was founded in the city of Uruguaiana. At the same time, Companhia Brasileira de Petróleo Ipiranga (Brazilian Corporation of Ipiranga Oil) was founded under Destilaria Rio-Grandense de Petróleo S.A. In 1938, Ipiranga opened its first gas station in Rio Grande (Rio Grande do Sul). In the same year, Brazil's President Getúlio Vargas signed a decree which nationalized the oil refining industry. By the 1940s, Ipiranga produced solvents, asphalt, lubricants and insecticides in Brazil to counter import restrictions during World War II. Production stopped for the duration of the war. In 1953, the United States began operating units of thermal cracking, which allowed for the production of new fuels. In 1957, Ipiranga split fuel distribution operations into two companies: Distribuidora de Produtos de Petróleo Ipiranga (DPPI, distribution of petroleum products) which covered the South Region in Brazil, and Companhia Brasileira de Petróleo Ipiranga (CBPI), which covered all other regions in the country. In May 1959, Ipiranga bought Gulf Oil Brazil, and expanded its operations to Brazil. In 1993, Ipiranga bought the Atlantic service station network in Brazil and became one of the largest gas distribution companies in the country. According to the newspaper O Globo, the purchase of Atlantic was the largest private company acquisition in the country's history. Ipiranga acquired 11 am/pm franchise locations. In the following year, the company launched