History of Mobil Australia

Mobil was the first oil company in Australia. It began as Vacuum Oil, opening the Queen Street, Melbourne branch in February 1895.

In 1906, the company issued Australia's first ever chart of "Recommendations to Motorists" covering about 200 makes of car. As motor vehicles became more popular in Australia, Vacuum expanded its operations and ten years later, it merged with the Standard Oil Company of New York to become Socony Vacuum, then Socony Mobil and then, ultimately, Mobil Corporation.

The Flying Red Horse (Pegasus) logo first appeared in Australia in 1939 and became known as one of Australia's best recognized corporate symbols.

In October 1946, Mobil began constructing the Altona oil refinery. The refinery commenced operations in June 1949 initially making lubricating oil and bitumen from imported crude oil.

A multi million dollar expansion program that came on stream in December 1954 extended the refinery's product range into motor vehicle fuels and, in 1956, it produced Australia's first locally made aviation gasoline.

The discovery of vast reserves of crude oil and gas in Bass Strait in the early 1960s changed the Australian refining industry dramatically, as all companies changed to processing the locally produced oil instead of importing their raw materials.

In 1970 further expansion and modification of the Altona Refinery near Melbourne was completed, making it possible for Bass Strait crude to be processed in the plant. In 1973, Mobil announced its return to the production of lubricating oils in Australia and commenced construction of a lubricating oil refinery alongside the existing Adelaide fuels product refinery. The lubricating oil refinery, the most modern one in Australia, opened in 1976.

1n 1987, Mobil completed a major upgrade of its Yarraville bulk fuels terminal in Melbourne to create the most efficient and technologically advanced petroleum products terminal in Australia.