THE MINERAL INDUSTRY OF TEXAS 
761 
 
 Significant secondary recovery projects initiated in 1967 included Mobil
Oil Corp's waterflood of a large portion of the Shafter Lake field in Andrews
County, with 15 to 19 million barrels of oil added to ultimate recovery;
a miscible flood, comprising a gas propane mix, in the University Waddell
field in Crane County; and a significant fireflood in a thin section of the
West Casa Blanca field in northwestern Duval County. An interesting pilot
project, using a polymer-additive process, was being tested by Standard Oil
Co. of Texas in the Westbrook field of Mitchell County. A pilot fireflood
in a 10-foot sand section of the Glen Hummel field in Wilson County was operated
by Sun Oil Co. A 12,000acre tract in the Norris McElroy unit in Crane and
Upton Counties was under waterflood by Tidewater Oil Co. A thermal belt appeared
to be developing in a 47county area in Railroad Commission Districts 1 and
4. The area contains 23 thermal recovery operations, 13 of which are firefloods.

 Humble Oil & Refining Co. installed the Nation's largest crude still,
a 210,000barrel unit, at fts Baytown refinery. The huge unit, which processes
lube and fuel crudes at the same time, will form the core of the Baytown
facility's crude-distillation complex. The company also added a 13,500-barrel-per-day
hydrocracker to its Baytown operation. The new unit will produce 124 barrels
of gasoline for every 100 barrels of aromatic feedstock. 
 A major expansion program, which included a 40,000-barrel hydrocracking
unit, began at the Texas City refinery of American Oil Co. Other unit expansions
included a 40,000-barrel-per-day ultraformer, a catalytic reformer in which
naphthas are reformed into high-octane motor fuel components, a 50,000-barrelper-day
sulfolane unit to produce highpurity aromatics, additional electric-powergenerating
units to serve the new facilities, and new blending and shipping units to
expedite product delivery. A 47,000-barrelper-day, two stage crude distillation
unit was added to the Big Spring refinery of Cosden Oil & Chemical Co.
The new unit will replace distillation facilities at the Colorado City refinery.
Sunray DX Oil Co. installed a 6,500-barrel-per-day hydrocracker at its Corpus
Christi refinery. The hydrocracker upgrades low value, heavy hydrocarbons
to profitable petroleum prod- 
ucts by adding hydrogen. Mobil Oil Corp. installed a 120,000-barrel-per-day
crude distillation unit at the Beaumont refinery in a modernization program
which included a 42,000-barrel-per-day catalytic reformer, a 60-million-cubic-foot-per-day
hydrogenerating unit, and a 29,000—barrelper-day hydrocracker. The
expansion project will raise refinery capacity from 220,000 to 280,000 barrels
per day. 
 Ft. Worth Refining Co. purchased the 13,000-barrel-per-day oil refinery
of Premier Oil Refining Co. The plant, located in the northeast part of Ft.
Worth, was built in 1919 and serves markets in a 130-mile radius around Ft.
Worth. Celanese Corp. purchased the 54,000-barrel-per-day oil refinery of
Pontiac Refining Corp. located at Corpus Christi, Tex. The refinery will
be operated by Champlin Petroleum Co., a Celanese subsidiary. The refinery
has a 19,000-barrel-per-day catalytic reforming capacity to produce benzene,
cyclohexane, orthoxylene, toluene, and mixed xylenes. Marathon Oil Co. planned
to expand its Texas City refinery with a new catalytic reformer, a naphtha
hydrotreater and treating facilities to permit processing of high-sulfur
crudes. Sinclair Refining Co. added a 22,000-barrel-per-day catalytic reformer
and a 4,450-barrel-per-day benzene-toluene recovery and purification unit
to its Houston refinery. The reformer and extraction units will produce 32
million gallons per year of high-grade benzene and 36 million gallons per
year of petroleum-grade toluene. The capacity of the paraxylene unit will
be raised to 300 million pounds per year and the orthoxylene capacity to
200 million pounds per year. 
 Petrochcmicals.—The petrochemical industry continued a growth through
1967 and was a major contributor to valueadded category in the manufacturing
sector of the economy. Texas was a major producer of first-generation petrochemical
products derived from natural gas, and select oil refinery products and aromatics.
The U.S. Department of Commerce reported chemical shipments to exceed $41
billion in 1967 with much of the shipment value originating in Texas. Most
of the petrochemical industry was concentrated along the gulf coast from
Corpus Christi through Freeport, Bay City, Houston, and Beaumont, Tex., into
Lake Charles, Baton Rouge, and New Orleans, La.