Lago Oil And Transport Company
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Lago Oil & Transport Co. Ltd. was established in 1924 as a shipping company responsible for transporting
crude oil Petroleum, also known as crude oil or simply oil, is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid chemical mixture found in geological formations, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons. The term ''petroleum'' refers both to naturally occurring u ...
from
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 ...
to its transshipment facility on the island of
Aruba Aruba, officially the Country of Aruba, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, in the southern Caribbean Sea north of the Venezuelan peninsula of Paraguaná Peninsula, Paraguaná and northwest of Curaçao. In 19 ...
. The Lago refinery, a subsidiary of the
Standard Oil Company Standard Oil Company was a corporate trust in the petroleum industry that existed from 1882 to 1911. The origins of the trust lay in the operations of the Standard Oil Company (Ohio), which had been founded in 1870 by John D. Rockefeller. The ...
(
Exxon 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 form ...
), remained in operation until March 31, 1985, when Exxon made the decision to shut down and dismantle both the refinery and Lago Colony.


History

The discovery of a substantial amount of
crude oil Petroleum, also known as crude oil or simply oil, is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid chemical mixture found in geological formations, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons. The term ''petroleum'' refers both to naturally occurring u ...
beneath
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 ...
presented a transportation challenge; the channel leading to the lake was too shallow for oceangoing
oil tanker An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk cargo, bulk transport of petroleum, oil or its products. There are two basic types of oil tankers: crude tankers and product tankers. Crude tankers move large quant ...
s. In response to this challenge, the
Pan American Petroleum and Transport Company The Pan American Petroleum and Transport Company (PAT) was an oil company founded in 1916 by the American oil tycoon Edward L. Doheny after he had made a huge oil strike in Mexico. Pan American profited from fuel demand during World War I, and fr ...
, 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 tanker Lake tankers were small (up to 5,000 ton) specially designed shallow-draft tanker ships that carried the crude oil, pumped from beneath Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela, to the three off-shore refineries located on the Dutch islands of Aruba and Cur ...
s responsible for transporting the crude oil from Lake Maracaibo to Aruba. On August 14, 1924, Captain Robert Rodgers, a
Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...
agent representing the Lago Petroleum Company, was in search of a suitable harbor for the transshipment of Lago crude oil from the Maracaibo field. Following surveys of the harbor at San Nicolas, where the wharf and railway of the former Aruba Phosphate Company were located, expansion of the harbor and construction of the
oil depot An oil terminal (also called a tank farm, tankfarm, oil installation or oil depot) is an industrial facility for the storage of oil, petroleum and petrochemical products, and from which these products are transported to end users or other stor ...
began and was in progress by November 1924. The location was ideal due to the closeness of the production site, stable political climate, ideal harbor, and available land. Meanwhile, the oil depot was under construction in San Nicolas, transshipment of oil was taking place from tankers anchored off Oranjestad, bound to the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
. In the United States, the crude oil underwent the refining process to produce various petroleum products such as
gasoline Gasoline ( North American English) or petrol ( Commonwealth English) is a petrochemical product characterized as a transparent, yellowish, and flammable liquid normally used as a fuel for spark-ignited internal combustion engines. When for ...
,
diesel fuel Diesel fuel, also called diesel oil, heavy oil (historically) or simply diesel, is any liquid fuel specifically designed for use in a diesel engine, a type of internal combustion engine in which fuel ignition takes place without a spark as a re ...
,
Bunker C Fuel oil is any of various fractions obtained from the distillation of petroleum (crude oil). Such oils include distillates (the lighter fractions) and residues (the heavier fractions). Fuel oils include heavy fuel oil (bunker fuel), marine fue ...
, and
heating oil Heating oil is any petroleum product or other oil used for heating; it is a fuel oil. Most commonly, it refers to low viscosity grades of fuel oil used for furnaces or boilers for home heating and in other buildings. Home heating oil is often ...
. 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.


Refinery

In 1928,
Standard Oil of Indiana Amoco ( ) is a brand of fuel stations operating in the United States and owned by British conglomerate BP since 1998. The Amoco Corporation was an American chemical and oil company, founded by Standard Oil Company in 1889 around a refiner ...
purchased the Lago transshipment Pan American Petroleum facility in Aruba, as well as the oil holdings under Lake Maracaibo in
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 ...
. Standard Oil of Indiana then began to build a small
refinery A refinery is a production facility composed of a group of chemical engineering unit processes and unit operations refining certain materials or converting raw material into products of value. Types of refineries Different types of refineries ...
next to the transshipping facility port. Soon after the small refinery had been completed, a tax was anticipated to be imposed by the U S Government on imported crude. Standard of Indiana had only marketing outlets in the United States and knew they could not compete when selling imported oil that had been burdened with a toll, so they sold all their holdings to Standard Oil of New Jersey, who had marketing outlets around the world. Standard Oil of New Jersey purchased not only the small refinery in Aruba, but also the vast holding in
crude oil Petroleum, also known as crude oil or simply oil, is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid chemical mixture found in geological formations, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons. The term ''petroleum'' refers both to naturally occurring u ...
Standard of Indiana owned under Lake Maracaibo.In 1938, Standard Oil of New Jersey obtained a contract to supply Britain with 100 octane
aviation gasoline Avgas (aviation gasoline, also known as aviation spirit in the UK) is an aviation fuel used in aircraft with spark-ignited internal combustion engines. ''Avgas'' is distinguished from conventional gasoline (petrol) used in motor vehicles, wh ...
. However, because of the
isolationism Isolationism is a term used to refer to a political philosophy advocating a foreign policy that opposes involvement in the political affairs, and especially the wars, of other countries. Thus, isolationism fundamentally advocates neutrality an ...
that was prevalent in the United States (and which indeed resulted in the US staying neutral in
WWII World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, 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 World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
.


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 Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company, headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New ...
refinery on Dutch-owned
Curaçao Curaçao, officially the Country of Curaçao, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located in the southern Caribbean Sea (specifically the Dutch Caribbean region), about north of Venezuela. Curaçao includ ...
, 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
Attack on Aruba The attack on Aruba was an attack on oil installations and tankers by Axis submarines during World War II. On 16 February 1942, a German U-boat attacked the small Dutch island of Aruba. Other submarines patrolled the area for shipping and they ...
was performed. On February 16, 1942, the site was attacked by the German submarine ''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 tanker Lake tankers were small (up to 5,000 ton) specially designed shallow-draft tanker ships that carried the crude oil, pumped from beneath Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela, to the three off-shore refineries located on the Dutch islands of Aruba and Cur ...
s 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 The British West Indies (BWI) were the territories in the West Indies under British Empire, British rule, including Anguilla, the Cayman Islands, the Turks and Caicos Islands, Montserrat, the British Virgin Islands, Bermuda, Antigua and Barb ...
. 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, Exxon Corporation closed the Lago Refinery and began to dismantle the facility as well as the colony. Before the refinery was partially dismantled, it was taken over by the Aruba Government and sold to Coastal Corporation, which re-opened the refinery after a major overhaul but not nearly at its original capacity. Coastal later sold the refinery to
Valero Energy Corporation Valero Energy Corporation is an American-based Petroleum industry, fuels producer mostly involved in manufacturing and marketing transportation fuels and other petrochemical, related products. It is headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, United ...
. Late 2017,
Citgo Petroleum Corporation Citgo Petroleum Corporation, or Citgo (stylized as CITGO), is a United States–based refiner, transporter and marketer of transportation fuels, lubricants, petrochemicals and other industrial products. Headquartered in the Energy Corridor area ...
took over the refinery.


See also

* Lago Colony *
Arend Petroleum Company The Arend Petroleum Company Ltd. was originally established in 1927 as on the island of Aruba. However, it underwent a name change and became more commonly known as "Arend" or "Eagle". The Arend was a subsidiary of the Shell plc, Royal Dutch Sh ...


References


Sources

* *


External links


Valero Energy Corporation

Lago Colony & Lago Refinery

www.historiadiaruba.aw: Lago Oil and Transport Company
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lago Oil and Transport Co. Ltd. Defunct oil companies of the United States Tanker shipping companies Defunct shipping companies Companies of Aruba History of Curaçao Standard Oil American companies established in 1924 Non-renewable resource companies established in 1924 Transport companies established in 1924 Non-renewable resource companies disestablished in 1985 1924 establishments in Curaçao and Dependencies 1920s establishments in Aruba 1980s disestablishments in Aruba