U.S. Oil & Refining Co. is an

oil refinery An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial processes, industrial process Factory, plant where petroleum (crude oil) is transformed and refining, refined into products such as gasoline (petrol), diesel fuel, Bitumen, asphalt base, ...

located in the tideflats of Tacoma, Washington.

History

USOR (U.S. Oil & Refining Co.) began in 1952 as Pacific Oil & Refining Co., a privately held corporation. Its first president was Dr. Ernest Lyder. The company was formed to build an oil refinery in the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (PNW; ) is a geographic region in Western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common ...

. In 1954, the refinery's present site in Tacoma was purchased, and in 1955 the corporation was renamed U.S. Oil & Refining Co. Construction of the initial facility, a (stream) refinery, began during the summer of 1955.

Chico Marx Leonard Joseph "Chico" Marx ( ; March 22, 1887October 11, 1961) was an American comedian, actor, and pianist. He was the oldest brother in the Marx Brothers comedy troupe, alongside his brothers Harpo Marx, Arthur ("Harpo"), Groucho Marx, Juliu ...

entertained at the ground-breaking ceremony on July 22, 1955, for the new $10 million plant. Tacoma Mayor Harold Tollefson and senators Warren G. Magnuson and

Henry M. Jackson Henry Martin "Scoop" Jackson (May 31, 1912 – September 1, 1983) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a U.S. representative (1941–1953) and U.S. senator (1953–1983) from the state of Washington (state), Washington. A Cold W ...

also attended the ceremony. Construction was completed in mid-1957 and the refinery in full operation by the end of the year. The site had been a favorite spot for fishing, swimming, and duck hunting in earlier years. The west end of the site had once been the city landfill, which at one time contained (unmodified, unstripped) Japanese Zeros brought over from after

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 ...

. The east end of the site was once

wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

s. A second crude unit, capable of processing heavy crude oil, used in the manufacture of paving grade asphalt, became operational in 1959. USOR was sold to Astra Oil Trading, a subsidiary of Transcor, in 2006. Astra sold USOR to TrailStone in 2014, which is funded by Riverstone Holdings, a private equity firm founded by key

Goldman Sachs The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered in Lower Manhattan in New York City, with regional headquarters in many internationa ...

entrepreneurs.

Products and facility

The refinery, with current crude capacity of is located on in the deep-water Port of Tacoma, Washington. This includes of waterfront with of waterfront on the Blair Waterway which provides direct access by ocean-going barges and tankers. Five pipelines, varying in size, connect the refinery and marine terminal. There is also a pipeline connecting the refinery to McChord Air Force Base, supplying

jet fuel Jet fuel or aviation turbine fuel (ATF, also abbreviated avtur) is a type of aviation fuel designed for use in aircraft powered by Gas turbine, gas-turbine engines. It is colorless to straw-colored in appearance. The most commonly used fuels for ...

to the base. The refinery has direct rail access and is close to both a major interstate highway system and the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. The refinery's products include

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, marine and jet fuels, residual fuels, and

asphalt Asphalt most often refers to: * Bitumen, also known as "liquid asphalt cement" or simply "asphalt", a viscous form of petroleum mainly used as a binder in asphalt concrete * Asphalt concrete, a mixture of bitumen with coarse and fine aggregates, u ...

. These products are made by use of a few different primary process units, including vacuum distillation,

catalytic reforming Catalytic reforming is a chemical process used to convert petroleum naphtha, naphthas from crude oil into liquid products called reformates, which are premium "blending stocks" for high-octane gasoline. The process converts low-octane linear hydr ...

isomerization In chemistry, isomerization or isomerisation is the process in which a molecule, polyatomic ion or molecular fragment is transformed into an isomer with a different chemical structure. Enolization is an example of isomerization, as is tautomer ...

, and diesel hydrotreating. USOR receives most of its crude oil by rail car, and some by vessel at its dock. The refinery has storage capacity for approximately one million barrels 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 ...

and one million barrels of refined petroleum products. In 2007, storage was increased by of crude oil and of other products. Distribution facilities include truck and trailer, marine and rail loading for fuels and asphalt in Tacoma, and deliveries of jet fuel via pipeline.

Notes and references

;Notes ;References #USOR company archives and External Links below
Tacoma Public Library - Tacoma Past & Present

External links

U.S. Oil & Refining's home page

Astra Oil Trading web site

Transcor AG web siteBusiness Week company profile of U.S. Oil & Refining
{{coord, 47, 15, 31, N, 122, 23, 43, W, type:landmark_region:US_dim:7500, display=title Oil refineries in Washington Energy infrastructure in Washington (state) Buildings and structures in Pierce County, Washington Energy infrastructure completed in 1957