by Bruce Wells | Sep 23, 2024 | This Week in Petroleum History
September 23, 1918 – Wood River Refinery goes Online –
The Roxana Petroleum Company Wood River (Illinois) facility began refining crude oil — processing more than two million barrels of oil from Oklahoma oilfields in its first year of operation. Roxana Petroleum was the 1912 creation of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group, which also founded the American Gasoline Company in Seattle to distribute the fuel on the West Coast. (more…)
by Bruce Wells | Sep 18, 2024 | Petroleum Pioneers
Humble Oil and Refining Company discovered an oilfield in 1943 — and earned a $50,000 state bounty.
Among its petroleum history records, Florida’s first — but not last — unsuccessful attempt to find commercially viable oil reserves began in 1901, not far from the Gulf Coast panhandle town of Pensacola. Two exploratory wells, the first drilled to a depth of 1,620 feet and the second reaching 100 feet deeper, were abandoned. (more…)
