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FORWARD TO THE HISTORY OF LAGO REFINERY |
| This is a work in progress. It is by no means finished. I have printed these pages for distribution at the Colony Kids Reunion in San Antonio, Texas in September of 2003. |
| Note that all of this information has been taken from the following books: History of Standard Oil, (New Jersey), New Horizons, 1927-1950 by Larson, Knowlton & Popple; Mexican Petroleum by Pan American Petroleum, published in 1922; Standard Oil Company (Indian) Oil Pioneer of the Middle West by Giddens; Growth in a Changing Environment, A History of Standard Oil Company (New Jersey) and Exxon Corporation 1972-1975, by Bennett H. Wall; Standard Oil Company (New Jersey) in World War II, by Standard Oil of New Jersey; as well a paper by Auke Visser, titled: Other Esso Related Companies. It is not my intention to plagiarize any these books, all the information in this paper comes from these sources and much is taken directly from the books, rather, it is my intension to bring together the little bits and pieces of information that I have found about Lago Oil & Transport Company in all of these books and papers and combine them into a simple history of the development of Lago. If you are interested in even greater detail, such has, how stock was swapped to facilitate the purchase of all these different companies, how Lago Petroleum of Venezuela and Creole Petroleum also fits into the picture, then I suggest you read the books that are referenced too above. Each book has about 700 or so pages and goes into great detail on all aspects of the Standard Oil Companies. There are many other factors that contributed to the rise and fall of Lago. It is interesting to see how all the Standard operations all over the world effect each other and how markets dictate what is expanded and what is not expanded over the years. These books also go into greater detail how the politics of each country play a part in what is developed and where oil was developed and refineries built. Politics certainly played a great part in getting the Lago refinery located in Aruba instead of being located in Venezuela. Politics again played a part in curtailing the size of the Lago refinery and finely, its closing. |
| This paper stops at 1975. I have as yet been unable to find much about Lago after that date. The closing of Lago, the purchase of the refinery by Costal and then the purchase of the refinery from Costal by El Paso Gas, none of this period is covered, as yet. As I said before, this is an ongoing project; any help or reference to this period (after 1975) would be greatly appreciated. I would be interested in your comments and any suggestions or new information that any of you may have that will help me to complete this undertaking, particularly the title of any books or any articles that have been written after 1975 on the Lago refinery, Costal Petroleum and El Paso Gas. |
| For those of you who learned something from Mr. Turner, a great teacher, I was just a poor student, please, correct my spelling and grammar. |
| Dan Jensen |
| Savannah, GA |
| July 3, 2003 |
| GO ON TO THE HISTORY OF LAGO REFINERY |