Texaco Colombia

  1930's to unknown date

  Colombia

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TYPE: Non-aviation private company

IATA/ICAO CODES: Nil

HEADQUARTERS: Colombia

OTHER NAMES: Nil

SUBSEQUENT NAME: Nil

Texaco is a major US oil company founded in 1901 in Beaumont, TX. It grew to become one of the world's largest company in the energy business.

In the 1930's, Texaco launched a series of oil explorations in Colombia and Venezuela, and created a local subsidiary, Texaco Colombia. In 1936, Texaco purchased a large concession in the Barco oil field, at the border with Venezuela near Lake Maracaibo, for $14,550,000. The company undertook to start production there in cooperation with Socony Vacuum; the combined area of their concessions was 400,000 ha.

Oil started flowing on 15 October 1939, and at the start of November began to be pumped into Texaco and Socony Vacuum tankers at Covenas at a rate of 25,000 barrels a day. By 1954, there were 2,000 oil workers on site, including 110 Americans, and 200 in Río de Oro. The 200 wells there were being operated by Colpet. Colpet airplanes flew a regular schedule from Cucuta to company airstrips at the Covenas terminal and the Tibu and Río de Oro camps, with less frequent trips to Bogota and to Petrolia, once the main base. The concession passed back to the Colombian government in 1955, however Texaco Colombia kept on extracting oil in several other areas of the country.

December 1957 to April 1961

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