Plains GP Holdings is the owner of non-economic controlling general partner interest in Plains All American Pipeline and an indirect limited partner interest in Plains All American Pipeline. In its turn, PAA operates in pipeline transport, and it also sells and stores liquefied petroleum gas and petroleum. The company works in the US and Canada.
The Plains GP Holdings logo is perfectly straightforward. It is also legible enough. On the downside, it’s pretty cluttered and hardly looks modern.
The history of the company can be traced back to 1981. It started as a small oil and gas exploration and production company and operated under the name of Plains Resources. 1998 was a turning point in its history. Firstly, the All American Pipeline was acquired, which resulted in the transformation of the corporate entity. Also, the company Plains All American went public via an initial public offering.
The centerpiece of the logo is an emblem showcasing a stylized oil platform. The oil platform is dark blue on the white background and is rather detailed. It is of course far from a realistic depiction, but still, there are more small items than a typical logo accommodates.
In addition to the oil rig itself, the colored lines in the background also contribute to the effect of clutteredness. They also carry the meaning by representing pipes. There are five lines of different thicknesses altogether. Two of them are red, two of the lines are gray, and there is also a single blue line. The emblem is placed inside a white rectangle with a dark blue border.
What is Plains GP Holdings
Plains GP Holdings is a holding company headquartered in Houston, Texas. Through its subsidiaries, it operates in the transportation, storage, terminalling, and marketing of crude oil and liquefied petroleum gas.
Below, there is the name of the company given in two lines. The letters are white, whereas the background is dark blue.
You can also come across a slightly different design. Here, parts of the Plains GP Holdings logo are stacked horizontally. The text, which is now blue on the white background, is positioned to the left of the emblem. The letters are larger than in the main logo but feature the same type. The horizontal bar between the lettering “Plains GP” and “Holdings” is in place. However, here, it’s not white but red.
The icon on the company’s website is a truncated version of its logo. Here, only the top of the logo is used, which is the pictorial part. The text on the blue background is removed. This approach seems natural as the text wouldn’t have been legible anyway. Even the oil platform looks very small here and viewers can hardly tell precisely what is drawn in the picture unless they have seen the logo at larger sizes.
The palette conjures up several symbolic aspects. Each of them is valuable for the company. For instance, the combination of blue, red, and white is known as the color scheme of the Flag of the United States. Here, it emphasizes the status of the company as one of America’s largest organizations.
Also, blue is the color of natural gas. It is often used in the logos of energy companies, and the Plains GP Holdings logo is but one example. The color also is reminiscent of the sea, which may conjure up offshore oil rigs.
We can’t but mention that blue symbolizes purity, being the color of the water. It might be used to send a subliminal message that the company doesn’t damage the environment.
The typeface is a sans serif one. It looks somewhat old-fashioned. Companies tend to use such typefaces to emphasize their heritage and traditional values.