Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1918-11-30
E,mpirc Refinery,


educationar' series which have been
printed in The Empire from time TO
time. other divisions of the Empire
companies previously described are
the gas division. the oil division and
the pipeline division. Others will ap-
pear from time 10 time.
Everyone admits that gasoline had
n mighty important Influence In
winning the war the allies. An
oil man would unhesitatingly say
that 1t was the most important factor
in the long drawn out struggle, In
which civilization finally won out
over scientific barbarism. II It had
not been for oil and its products our
thousands OF motor trucks would
have never been taken to France,
our airplanes would not have dark
ened the sky and the great fleet that
formed bridge to France would
have been useless
In this great struggle just closed,
the Empire refinerieS one OF the
great divisions of the Empire com
panies played no inconsequential
part The possible capacity OF the
seven plants Is In the neighborhood
OF 10000 barrels daily. OF the re-
fined product 90 per cent has been
delivered to the government direct
In a round about way, most OF the
remainder has been instrumental In
winning tho war.
There isn't much glamour about a
refinery. You can't write thrilling
sytnrtna n s'Tapaa with tiUla' hiC N
/ Is possible in the building Of a pipe
line across stretches Of broken coun-
try where every minute counts. a
poet would not revel over the prosaic
outlines Of modern plant. It's
simply a question OF taking natures
gift I'm the shape Of crude oil, heat
ing IL to certain temperature and
distilling the different products,
The refinery division OF the EN-
pire companies is young-tn fact II
is not nearly as old as the producing
company. II was not until 1915
that the matter Of refineries was
given serious consideration. At that
time, the great oil field In Butler
county was only beginning to give
promise OF what 1t could ultimately
do. That was before the great
gusher district in the Towanda eN-
tension Of the ElDorado field had
been discovered, when the pipelines
were unable to care for hardly A
small portion OF the oil.
1t Is a matter OF history that when
the great tide OF production came
from the great 'Towanda pool, the
refining end Of the organization was
| ready to care for a large share OF
| the production. The Empire Pipe
line company had pushed its line
! down the Walnut valley, across the
state line into Oklahoma and thence
| to PonCa City and Gushing Hun
| dreds OF tank cars had been pur'
chased and were ready to carry the
| crude to those refineries that were
not reached by the companies own
| pipelines as we'll as to carry away
! the refined product But such q
description is getting a little ahead
| OF the story.
1t has long been recognized by thu
! oil industry, that the company. tha
/ Is a complete oil unit in itself hai
| commercial supremacy over III
! rivals. For instance, prOducinI
organization with no pipelines or re
fineries lacks several hundred PEI
cent OF getting every dollar out %
every barrel OF crude pumped from
the ground. On the other hand, :
big refinery without production q
it's own. In many instances is in SORT
straits for oil to refine. Perfection
| is only obtained by a combination o
all three-production, pipelines an'
| refinerics.
The Empire companies have beer
in the enviable position the pas
year Of having more crude pruduc
tion than could possible he refined
a position not held by single com
| pany in the United States at tn,
| present time, when size Is taken int
! consideration. on the other hant
| most refining companies in the Coun
try have more capacity than obtain
ahlo oil.
The first large venture Of the En-
pire companies into the refinin,
game came late in the spring OF 1915
when the American refinery at OK
mul6se was purchased, 1t had
capacity OF 1000 barrels. Then tn
Evans-Thwing group of plants wa
taken over. They included larg'
plant at Gainesville, Texas, know
as the Producers Refining compan'
with a capacity OF 10000 barrel
daily; the Ponca City, Okla, re
fnery with a capacity Of $500 bar
rels and the Gushing refinery will
the same capacity. The Oklahoma
| city plant with 1000 barrels ca
paclty. Others bought during thu
year 1917, were the Peerless plan
at Cushing and the Sarco plant a
Independence, Kan, with capacities
OF 1000 and $500 barrels respect
/ lively.
CONFINED on NEXT PAGE