Cerro Azul is a city in the
Mexican state
The states of Mexico are first-level administrative territorial entities of the country of Mexico, which is officially named Mexico, United Mexican States. There are 32 federal entities in Mexico (31 states and the capital, Mexico City, as a sepa ...
of
Veracruz. Located in the state's
Huasteca Baja region, it serves as the municipal seat for the
surrounding municipality of the same name.
In the 2005 INEGI Census, the city reported a total population of
23,573.
History
The site had been a area of rolling plains and hills used for cattle grazing (potreros). Hundreds of little asphalt springs dotted the area where cattle bones could be seen caught in the black seepage. Oil drilling in the area began in 1906.
The town's population grew exponentially following the drilling of the Cerro Azul No. 4 well, at the time the world's largest pumping 260,000 barrels per day (BPD), in February 1916. The well was drilled by Herbert Wylie for the Mexican Petroleum Company, then controlled by California oilman
Edward L. Doheny. When the well came in the sound could be heard away in Casiano, and shot a stream of oil into the air, sending oil in a two-mile (3-km) radius. Over the next 14-years the well would produce over 57 millions barrels. Doheny formed the
Pan American Petroleum and Transport Company, of which the Mexican Petroleum Company portion would later become the
PEMEX
Pemex (a portmanteau of Petróleos Mexicanos, which translates to ''Mexican Petroleum'' in English; ) is the Mexican state-owned petroleum company managed and operated by the Mexican government. It was formed in 1938 by nationalization and expr ...
.
The municipality of Cerro Azul was created on 27 November 1963, and the city was given city status on 6 December 1983.
References
External links
*
Municipal Official Site*
Municipal Official Information
{{Veracruz
Populated places in Veracruz