Lago Oil and Transport Company

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For the oil production company, see Lago Petroleum Corporation.
Lago Oil and Transport Company
Exxon
Commissioned1924
Decommissioned1985
Capacity440,000 bbl/d (70,000 m3/d)
No. of employees≈ 10,000 employees (1950–1960)

Lago Oil & Transport Co. Ltd. was established in 1924 as a shipping company responsible for transporting

Standard Oil Company (Exxon),[1] remained in operation until March 31, 1985 when Exxon made the decision to shut down and dismantle both the refinery and Lago Colony.[2]

History

The discovery of a substantial amount of

crude oil beneath Lake Maracaibo presented a transportation challenge; the channel leading to the lake was too shallow for oceangoing oil tankers. In response to this challenge, the Pan American Petroleum and Transport Company, which held a lease on a significant area of Lake Maracaibo, founded Lago Petroleum Corporation (1923–1932). This corporation's primary purpose was to operate lake tankers
responsible for transporting the crude oil from Lake Maracaibo to Aruba.

On August 14, 1924,

oil depot began and was in progress by November 1924.[3]

The location was ideal due to the closeness of the production site, stable political climate, ideal harbor, and available land.

Bunker C, and heating oil
.

On February 24, 1928, construction commenced on the refinery. The initial focus was on providing housing for foreign American workers and their families as the first priority.[3]

Refinery

In 1928,

WWII, until the end of 1941), the contract stated that the product had to be produced outside the United States. Because Aruba was under Dutch control, the Lago refinery became an important asset by providing a place outside the United States where aviation gasoline could be produced without legal and international problems. Thus, the size of that refinery expanded long before the United States entered World War II
.

Wartime

With the United States entry into World War II in 1942, the demand for Aviation gasoline further increased and considerable expansion was done at the Lago Refinery soon after that. With this expansion, Lago became one of the largest refineries in the world, only bested by

Royal Dutch Shell refinery on Dutch-owned Curaçao
, and a major producer of petroleum products for the Allied war efforts.

The importance of the Lago refinery was well known to the German High Command and an

U-156. The submarine's deck gun exploded due to mistakes by the German deck gunner, and the refinery was not damaged. However, three of the lake tankers
that carried crude oil from Lago Maracaibo were torpedoed.

Postwar

When demand for gasoline was high after World War II, the Lago Refinery was running at full capacity and employed over 10,000 personnel. About a thousand were foreign staff employees in supervisory positions and the remainder of the work force was from the native population of Aruba as well as "off-islanders", imported from mainly the British West Indies. These employees lived in San Nicolaas and in the interior of the island, the foreign staff employees lived in a "company town" known as Lago Colony, which was east of the refinery.

In 1985,

Valero Energy Corporation. Late 2017, Citgo Petroleum Corporation
took over the refinery.

See also

References

  1. ^ Zwan & Merryweather 1948, p. 442.
  2. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved 2023-10-27.
  3. ^ a b c d Dew 1977.

Sources

External links

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