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Tuesday, June 3rd, the Magnolia Petroleum Company had as its guests more than 900 persons to witness the dedication ceremonies opening the new West Ranch gasoline plant near Vanderbilt. The chief speaker for the occasion was Col. Ernest O. Thompson, chairman of the Texas Railroad Commission. In his address, Col. Thompson stressed the importance of the conservation of Texas’ natural resources wherever it is feasible to collect casinghead gas, strip it of its liquid hydrocarbons and then either utilize the residue gas for pressure maintenance or transport it for fuel in strict accordance with the waste prevention laws of Texas. “I congratulate the Magnolia Company on its wisdom and foresight,” Col. Thompson said. “This is true conservation and waste prevention. I hope fervently that the time will soon come when there will be no oil field in Texas flaring gas whenever the quantity is sufficient to make the utilization of such gas feasible and practicable.” Colonel Thompson added that to date the oil industry has spent or has contracted to spend or has appropriated $127,000,000 in Texas to build plants like Magnolia’s West Ranch plant to fully utilize the flare gas from oil wells. At the conclusion Col. Thompson switched a master gate at the plant extinguished a field flare nearby and at the same time directed the residue gas into a pipeline for ultimate use as fuel at Beaumont. Col. Thompson was introduced by R. M. Chan, Magnolia Vice-President, who reviewed the plans of the company for further conservation of oil and gas throughout the entire oil and gas producing system of the organization. He told of several other conservation projects that are under construction or for which the company has plans at this time. They consist of unitized field operations and pressure maintenance and water-flooding operations as well as cycling and gasoline plants for the utilization of the liquid hydrocarbon content in natural gas. Plans for the new West Ranch plant were first begun in 1941, but the severe shortage of materials necessitated postponement of the project until the end of the war. The project was begun again in September 1945, and after awarding contracts and a revision of plans construction began in August, 1946. Despite difficulties in obtaining deliveries of equipment and critical material, construction schedules have been maintained by the Hudson Engineering Corporation, constructors on the project. The plant will have a maximum capacity of 25 million cubic feet of gas daily which will be able for processing all the casinghead gas in the West Ranch field. It is estimated that approximately 40,000 gallons of liquid products will be recovered per cay at the West Ranch plant.
Edna Weekly Herald,
June 19, 1947 |
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What several employees have termed the “revolution” in the Mobil Oil Company, formerly Magnolia, is reported to be at an end, and most employees in this area are breathing more easily nowadays. The turmoil has witnessed the removal of the District Office from Vanderbilt to Victoria, the transfer of many employees to that district office and to other locations over the state, and even outside the state, the early retirement of others and the termination of employee relations with still others. But the fact remains, despite these transfers, Jackson County hasn’t fared too badly from the major shake-up that even saw the firm change its name from Magnolia Oil Company to Mobil Oil Company. There still are over 100 Magnolia (pardon us, Mobil) employees in what is now known officially as the Vanderbilt Area Office. These workers reside mostly in Edna, Vanderbilt and Lolita. And the Mobil annual payroll is in the neighborhood of $600,000. That’s a first class industry. Z. P. Armstrong of Vanderbilt heads the Vanderbilt Area Office as production supervisor. The district production superintendent, of which Vanderbilt has seen many since Magnolia first discovered oil on the West-Ward Ranch, now is located at Victoria and is A. H. Massad. It’s true some of the Mobil office building near Vanderbilt has been closed and the warehouse has been shut down, and later even some of the surplus houses there in the Magnolia Camp likely will be offered for sale. But R. Armstrong says there still are over 100 employees in the Area Office there. Here’s the boxscore for the county:
29 employees have been
transferred from the old Vanderbilt District Office; Several of the employees transferred to nearby Victoria – 12 to be exact—still make their homes in Edna and Vanderbilt and expect to continue doing so. Seven of these persons reside in Edna and five at Vanderbilt. Here are the actual names of the employees and their present status.: Retired: Edgar F. Moss, Edna; B. L. Saulsbury to Kilgore; I. W. Combs, to Kentucky. Chose to not transfer (terminate) and reside in Edna: J. A. Sappington, Pierre La Pointe, A. A. Crowell and Bernard Chada. Transferred to Victoria: D. B. Cosper, W. J. Groll, Bill Blake, E. M. Shepard Jr., Mrs. Hazel Campbell, H. E. Chissum, D. B. Bell, W. B. Cunningham, Vann Wood, Mrs. Lula B. Hamilton, Yvonne Moody, R. E. Pyle, A. C. Upton, Mrs. Laverne J. Jordan, Kenneth Lewis, Miss Willie Clay Barnes. Those commuting to Victoria daily and still residing in Edna include: Bell, Cunningham, Hamilton, Moody, Jordan and Barnes. Still making their home at Vanderbilt are Pyle, Upton and Wood. The Edna folk figure to keep on commuting since they say the drive to Victoria is only a few minutes longer than the drive to Vanderbilt and they have been doing this for many years. Here are the new transfer stations of others of the 28 moved: L. T. Daniel to Natchez, Miss., W. A. Milton to Talco, J. E. Dinger to Lake Charles, La., Glen W. Barb to Midland, J. R. Jones to Premont, J. H. Seery Jr. to Lubbock, J. R. Leonard to Houston, W. W. Rutz to Houston, D. W. Pierce to Midland, E. H. Murphy to Midland and T. L. Brown to Bay City. Now here is a list of the 25 who have reti4red from Magnolia in recent years and are making their homes here and elsewhere in Jackson County: Edna: Bud Melton, Tazz Gray, Ray Roberts, C. H. Gideon, B. B. (P-Vine) Wells, B. K. Talbert, R. D. Sholars, L. R. Kyle, Buster Secrest, T. A. Self, C. E. Northern, P. W. Rogers, E. F. Moss, Carl Hensley, Charlie Bohmfolk, Ottis Moore, a Mr. Richardson, a Mr. Campbell and W. C. Jeffers. The last named, however, is expected to move out of the state in the near future. Jackson County: B. H. Rupard, Mrs. B. H. (Mamie) Rupard, Bill Mallone, Jess Anderson, E. F. Parker and Julius Townsend. Otto Vann, recently transferred to Luling, has bid on another Mobil job and has returned. Others who also have terminated with Mobil and have returned to Edna to enter business and make their home include David McCord, Harvey Reynolds, Joe Elles, Frank Durham, Hoot Gibson and John T. Foxell.
Edna Herald,
February 11, 1960 |
