I have 74 shares in oil,it's a 1980 certificate of common stock.scottstrade said that I could open an account with the certificate, how? And just what do they mean?

Issued by cities service company which is know CITGO oil. The owner of these shares is no longer alive, died in 1987. She has no family members I can trace,I don't think they knew about the shares because know ones claimed them in 30 years. A trading company said I could open up an account with them, just what do they mean.

Found certificate owner of shares is passed on with no family members left certificate issued 1980 , 75 shares of stock to CITGO oil.30 years and no one has claimed it, can I?

Ignoring for a moment that this is for Citgo (more on that later): presumably the stock certificate was issued with someone's name on it. When that person passsed away his or her estate would have bequeathed it to an heir. And if that person subsequently dies then his or her estate would bequeath it to that person's heir, and so on. So this certificate belongs to whomever is the rightful heir following that chain o finheritance. If you believe you have the right to claim it you should contact the stock registrar and have it resissued in your name - I'm sure they can tell you what documents they require from you to prove you are the rightful owner.

But all this is moot. Since 1990 CitGo has been a wholy owned subsidiary of Petroleus de Venezuela, which is a nationally owned company of the Venezuelan government. Consequently there is no private stock ownership of it any more. At that time (1990) the owner of the stock should have received cash in exchange for the shares. Your stock certificate has no investment value any more.

A stock brokerage company will let you establish an account by depositing an asset such as cash or a stock ceryficate into an account in your name. You sign the certificate over to them, and they set up your new accont and credit it with the shares you signed over (this is known as owning stock in "street name," as opposed to keeping the physical certificate in your possession). You can do this in person or through the mail - I'm sure Scottrade can walk you through the process. Once the account is established any dividends received from stock you own in the account will be credited to the cash portion of the account, and you can sell the stock, or invest in stock or mutual funds as long as you have a suitable cash balance.