{{Unsourced, date=September 2013
Rumbai at present is a district of
Pekanbaru
Pekanbaru is the capital city of the Indonesian province of Riau, and a major economic center on the eastern side of Sumatra, Sumatra Island with its name derived from the Malay language, Malay (Indonesian language, Indonesian) word for 'new mar ...
,
Riau Province
Riau ( Jawi: ) is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the central eastern coast of the island of Sumatra, and extends from the eastern slopes of the Barisan Mountains to the Malacca Strait, including several large islands situated within ...
,
Sumatra
Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...
,
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...
. It was founded in the early 1950s as the Sumatra headquarters of
Caltex
Caltex is a petroleum brand name of Chevron Corporation used in the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East, and Southern Africa. Headquartered in Singapore, it is also the brand name of non-Chevron petroleum companies in some countries (such as ...
Pacific Oil Company, now known as Chevron Pacific Indonesia, on the shores of the
Siak River
The Siak (Sungai Siak) is a river of Riau province, in the east of Sumatra, Indonesia, about 1000 km northwest of the capital Jakarta. Approximately 370 kilometres in length, the Siak is a blackwater river which owes its brown color to di ...
. In the early 1950s, Rumbai could only be reached from the outside world by river boat from Pekanbaru or from
Bengkalis
Bengkalis (''Kota Bengkalis'') is a large town and the seat (capital) of Bengkalis Regency. in the Riau province of Indonesia It is located on the south coast of Bengkalis Island. The town had a population of 83,085 in 2021.
Bengkalis has a hot ...
. A road was built by Caltex to the Minas and Duri oilfields and camps. Caltex staff (mostly American) traveled to Rumbai, Minas and Duri by plane from Jakarta or Singapore to Pekanbaru airport and then by boat across to Rumbai. The oil camp of Rumbai was a completely self-contained, mostly-expatriate community with offices, homes, school, hospital, water treatment, diesel generators, commissary, country club, swimming pool, and golf course.
In 1958 a floating bridge was built by Caltex over the Siak River. By 1962 Caltex had built an oil port and company town at the fishing village of
Dumai
Dumai ( Jawi: , ), is a coastal city in Riau Province on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia, about 188 km from Pekanbaru, the provincial capital. The city has an area of 2,065.59 km2 and had 349,389 inhabitants at the mid 2024 official ...
on the coast and connected Duri to Dumai by road.
Pekanbaru