Commonwealth Oil Refineries
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Petroleum |
| Founded | 1920 |
| Defunct | 1957 |
| Successor | BP Australia Limited |
Area served | Australia |
| Products | Refined petroleum fuels and related products |
| £93,429 (1940) | |
| Total assets | £2,195,227 (1940) |
| Parent | British Petroleum Company Ltd. |
Commonwealth Oil Refineries (COR) was an Australian oil company that operated between 1920 and 1952 as a joint venture of the Australian government and the Anglo-Persian Oil Company.
Early history
The partnership was established in 1920 on the initiative of prime minister Billy Hughes.[1][2]
The board was to consist of seven members, three representing the Commonwealth and four representing the Anglo-Persian Oil Company. The provisional board consisted of: Sir Robert Garran, M. C. Lockyer, and Robert Gibson for the Commonwealth, and F. H. Bathurst, Professor Payne, T. J. Greenway, and W. J. Windeyer for the oil company.[3] Greenway served as chairman for the first year.
In 1924 it opened Australia's first oil refinery near Laverton, Victoria, north of the Melbourne - Geelong railway, adjacent to Kororoit Creek Road.[4][5] The refinery received its first shipment of crude oil on 12 March 1924, with product coming "on-stream" on 17 May 1924. The refinery had an annual processing capacity of 100,000 tons of crude oil. The refinery was shut down on 6 August 1955, eclipsed by much larger refineries being built around the country.
In the 1930s the company was involved in oil search ventures.[6]
BP
In 1952, the Menzies Coalition government sold the Australian government's interest in COR to the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, which became the British Petroleum Company (BP) in 1954.
In 1955 it developed a refinery at Kwinana, Western Australia[7]
BP/COR
Between 1952 and 1959, BP Australia branded its standard-grade petrol as COR, but then dropped the name.[8][9]
See also
References
- ^ Fitzhardinge, L. F. (1983). "Hughes, William Morris (Billy) (1862 - 1952)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 14 November 2008.
- ^ Commonwealth Oil Refineries (Australia) (1921), Report of the directors and balance sheet, The Company, retrieved 20 June 2015
- ^ "Anglo-Persian Oil Co". Western Argus. Vol. 25, no. 5052. Western Australia. 31 August 1920. p. 12. Retrieved 25 January 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "A History of Altona and Laverton: Industrial Development". Altona and Laverton Historical Society. Archived from the original on 9 April 2013. Retrieved 13 June 2013.
- ^ Commonwealth Oil Refineries (Australia) (1938), The romance of the C.O.R. : a great national institution, C.O.R, retrieved 20 June 2015
- ^ Amos, D. J. (Douglas James) (1935), The story of the Commonwealth Oil Refineries and the search for oil, E.J. McAlister & Co, retrieved 20 June 2015
- ^ Commonwealth Oil Refineries (Australia); Australasian Petroleum Refinery Ltd (1955), And now Kwinana, Australasian Petroleum Refinery in conjunction with C.O.R, retrieved 20 June 2015
- ^ "Commonwealth Oil Refineries Ltd (1920 - c. 1952)". Australian Science at Work. Retrieved 14 November 2008.
- ^ BP Australia; Commonwealth Oil Refineries (Australia) (1957), BP C.O.R. road map Western Australia, BP Australia, retrieved 20 June 2015
External links
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