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Allegany Refiners, Inc

1933 - 1946

( Bolivar Breeze Archives @ B.R.A.G. [Bolivar, Richburg, Allentown, Genesee Preservation Historical Society] May 11, 1933)

Allegany Refiners, Incorporated, Lets Contract For 750 Barrel Plant To Be Built In Bolivar

New Refinery Will Cost About $750,000 and Will Help to Stabilize the Local Oil Industry and Improve the Unemployment Situation Here 

            The hopes of Allegany county oil producers for a refinery at Bolivar which can turn the crude oil of the Bolivar, Richburg and other nearby districts into marketable gasoline and lubricating oils has come to realization with the letting of contracts for construction of the $755,000 plant of the Allegany Refiners, Inc., to the Leader Industries, Inc., and the breaking of ground early this week on the 25-acre Baker farm site 1 ¼ miles southwest of Bolivar on the Bolivar-Little Genesee highway.

            After months of study of the whole situation surrounding the production gathering, refining and marketing of the oils of the Bolivar, Richburg, Obi, Salt Rising, Little Rock City, Genesee and Horse Run areas, and the organizing of a financially strong company to carry forward the enterprise, the project has been launched by the purchase of land and the erection of a refinery to care for approximately 2,000 acres of oil land affected by the inability of previous purchasers to take the production of the area mentioned.  The enterprise has been placed in a strong position as regards its crude oil through the purchase of some 54 miles of gathering pipe lines from the Bradford Transit company which has been serving producers in this area in the past.

            Exhaustive study of the nature of the crude and the products that can be made from it has been made by Dr. E. H. Leslie and other petroleum engineers, who have specialized in the production of high grade quality products made from Pennsylvania Grade crude.  These technical studies have established the fact that Allegany Crude is an exceptionally valuable raw material for the production of the high grade lubricants characteristic of Pennsylvania Grade oil.  The most valuable products are the lubricating oils of various grades and these can be made of a quality equal to the best made from the Allegany and Bradford areas, and in quantity larger than that from the oil of any other major producing district in the Pennsylvania oil region.

            Oil men throughout this section, even though, not directly affected by this refining enterprise that has been launched, feel that the move made will tend to strengthen the price structure for all oils produced in this and adjacent producing territory.

            Had no outlet been provided for the unsaleable production, the outcome would have been to materially depreciate the value of the nearly three million dollars worth of taxable oil property, and to pave the way to lower prices for the production of this and adjacent producing areas in Pennsylvania.

            Plans for the construction of the new refinery are such as to bring one unit into the making of gasoline, kerosene, naphtha, fuel oil and lubricating oil stocks in five months, or about Oct. 1 and thus provide an outlet for the crude at the earliest possible time.  It is planned to complete all departments of the plant within nine months.

            More than 50 persons will be constantly employed when the completed plant is operating with a larger number to be engaged during the summer season in the erection of the buildings, stills, tankage and other equipment to be built on the site.  Architects’ drawings have been prepared showing the layout of the plant as it will appear alongside the Pittsburgh, Shawmut & Northern Railroad tracks between Bolivar and Olean.

            A force of men have already begun the laying of switches and trackage necessary properly to serve the refinery.  A 1,400 foot macadam roadway is now under construction leading to the plant from the Bolivar-Genesee highway.

            The Leader Industries, Inc., under personal direction of Dr. Leslie, the oil expert already mentioned, have been established for some months at its offices in the Bolivar Hotel from which the construction and initial operation of the plant will be directed.  The latest process of modern refining and the most up-to-date equipment will be used in this construction.

            The prospect is most heartening to the oil industry of this section and also cheers those who have lacked employment for many months during the gradual closing down of the production in the areas affected.  The purchasing companies will terminate all remaining contracts as of May 22 of this year.  It will be only a few months until the entire district will again feel the increase in production as the oil will begin to flow into the new refinery and out again as products, into the markets of the country.

            Allegany Refiners, Inc., backers of the enterprise, is fathered largely by the owners of production within the affected area.  It has a capitalization of $500,000.00, divided into 50,000 shares of full paid and non-assessable common stock at $10.00 per share par value.  A substantial part of the capital stock of the Company will be in the hands of the producers themselves, who are so vitally interested in an outlet for their oil, and in the maintenance of the price structure of Pennsylvania Grade crudes.  A small proportion of the stock will be allocated to outside investors.

            The officers of the Company that has made this enterprise possible which will mean so much to the whole district and county through an increase of assessed oil valuations bearing a large share of its tax burden, and to the unemployed persons of some of the areas hardest hit by the depression now passing are: A.L.Shaner, president; J.M.Karl, vice-president; D.V.McCarthy, vice-president; Neil S. Sullivan, secretary and treasurer.  The directors are: M.C.Bascom, J.C.Bradley, C.A.Chipman, R.J.Dermitt, Forest D. Dorn, J.M.Karl, J.W.Matthews, D.V. McCarthy, J.A. Messer, R.B.Moore, A.L.Shaner, W.E.Sawyer and F.J.Wilson.

 

FOOTNOTE: In the same page, “For the week ending May 6, the production of the Bradford field was a daily average of 26,168 barrels, and of the Allegany district 6,355 barrels.  The production in the previous week in those fiels was 24,744 and 5,734 barrels a day, respectively.”