COUNTYWIDE : 5 Oil Companies Enter Hall of Fame
Five oil companies in Ventura County were honored Saturday night for their contributions to the community.
Chevron USA Inc., Exxon Company USA, Shell Western E & P Inc., Texaco E & P Inc. and Unocal North American Oil & Gas Division were all named to the Hall of Fame by the Ventura County Economic Development Assn., a nonprofit organization that is a coalition of oil, real estate, manufacturing, tourism and agricultural interests.
A reception was held at the Mandalay Beach Resort in Oxnard.
“Agriculture and oil were the mainstay of the county in the early years,” said Phil Ayers, district reservoir engineer for Unocal.
The oil industry began in the county in the mid-1860s when oil was discovered in the hills behind Santa Paula, Ayers said.
The five oil companies, which employ many county residents, have made a significant economic contribution to the county, Ayers said. Unocal alone employs several hundred people, Ayers said.
According to the California Department of Conservation, Ventura County is the third-largest oil-producing county in the state.
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