The Creole Petroleum Corporation was an American

oil company The petroleum industry, also known as the oil industry, includes the global processes of exploration, extraction, refining, transportation (often by oil tankers and pipelines), and marketing of petroleum products. The largest volume products o ...

. It was formed in 1920 to produce fields on

Lake Maracaibo Lake Maracaibo () is located in northwestern Venezuela, between the states of Zulia, Trujillo, and Mérida. While Maracaibo is commonly referred to as a lake, its current hydrological characteristics may better classify it as estuary and/or ...

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

. The company was acquired by

Standard Oil of New Jersey Exxon Mobil Corporation ( ) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston. Founded as the largest direct successor of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, the modern company was formed ...

in 1928. Until 1951 Creole Petroleum was the world's number one oil producer when was supplanted by

Arabian American Oil Company Saudi Aramco ( ') or Aramco (formerly Arabian-American Oil Company), officially the Saudi Arabian Oil Company, is a majority state-owned petroleum and natural gas company that is the national oil company of Saudi Arabia. , it is the fourth- lar ...

. In 1950, Creole opened its refinery at Amuay bay. This is now a part of the Paraguaná Refinery Complex considered the world's third largest refinery complex, just after

Jamnagar Refinery The Jamnagar Refinery is a private sector crude oil refinery owned by Reliance Industries in Motikhavdi, Jamnagar, Gujarat, India. The refinery was commissioned on 14 July 1999 with an initial installed capacity of . Its current installed capaci ...

(India) and Ulsan Refinery (South Korea). The Venezuelan assets of Creole Petroleum Corporation were nationalized along with those of other foreign oil firms on January 1, 1976, becoming as filial part of

PDVSA Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (acronym PDVSA, , English language, English: Petroleum of Venezuela) is the Venezuelan state-owned oil and natural gas company. It has activities in exploration, production, refining and exporting oil as well as e ...

, a Venezuelan government-owned operating company.

References

{{Authority control Defunct oil companies of the United States American companies established in 1920 Defunct energy companies of Venezuela Standard Oil Oil and gas companies of Venezuela Former Venezuelan subsidiaries of foreign companies

See also

References