U.S. Oil & Refining Co. is an

oil refinery An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial process plant where petroleum (crude oil) is transformed and refined into useful products such as gasoline (petrol), diesel fuel, asphalt base, fuel oils, heating oil, kerosene, lique ...

located in the tideflats of Tacoma,

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

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 (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as 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 ...

. 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, 1887 – October 11, 1961) was an American comedian, actor and pianist. He was the oldest brother in the Marx Brothers comedy troupe, alongside his brothers Adolph ("Harpo"), Julius ("Groucho"), Milton ...

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 Warren Grant "Maggie" Magnuson (April 12, 1905May 20, 1989) was an American lawyer and politician who represented the state of Washington in Congress for 44 years, first as a Representative from 1937 to 1944, and then as a senator from 1944 to 1 ...

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. A Cold War liberal and anti- ...

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, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The east end of the site was once

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

s. A second crude unit, capable of processing

heavy crude oil Heavy crude oil (or extra heavy crude oil) is highly-viscous oil that cannot easily flow from production wells under normal reservoir conditions. It is referred to as "heavy" because its density or specific gravity is higher than that of light cru ...

, 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 Riverstone Holdings is a multinational private equity firm based in New York City focused on leveraged buyout, growth capital, and credit investments in the energy industry and electrical power industry sectors. The firm focuses on oil and gas e ...

, a private equity firm founded by key

Goldman Sachs Goldman Sachs () is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, with regional headquarters in London, Warsaw, Bangalore, H ...

entrepreneurs.

Products and facility

The refinery, with current crude capacity of is located on in the deep-water

Port of Tacoma The Port of Tacoma is an independent seaport located in Tacoma, Washington. The port was created by a vote of Pierce County citizens on November 5, 1918. The ''Edmore'' was the first ship to call at the port in 1921. The port's marine cargo opera ...

, 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 McChord Field is a United States Air Force base in the northwest United States, in Pierce County, Washington. South of Tacoma, McChord Field is the home of the 62d Airlift Wing, Air Mobility Command, the field's primary mission being world ...

, 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 engines. It is colorless to straw-colored in appearance. The most commonly used fuels for commercial a ...

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 (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organic co ...

diesel Diesel may refer to: * Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression * Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines * Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engin ...

, marine and jet fuels, residual fuels, and

asphalt Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term a ...

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

vacuum distillation Vacuum distillation is distillation performed under reduced pressure, which allows the purification of compounds not readily distilled at ambient pressures or simply to save time or energy. This technique separates compounds based on differences i ...

catalytic reforming Catalytic reforming is a chemical process used to convert petroleum refinery naphthas distilled from crude oil (typically having low octane ratings) into high-octane liquid products called reformates, which are premium blending stocks for high-o ...

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 tautomeriz ...

, 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 mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crude ...

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