Where does Quaker State get its basestock oil from?

[Quattro Pete]

On some other car forum, a person claims that Quaker State base oil comes from "superior", as he said, Pennsylvania oil. My thought was that while this was where Quaker State began in early 1900s, it's probably no longer the case, especially after they merged with Pennzoil in 1998 and then were further bought out by Shell last year. This would lead me to believe that the main ingredients of Quaker State oils come from wherever Shell is able to acquire them these days. So, does anyone know for sure when Quaker State stopped using the oil from Pennsylvania? Any links to supporting literature would be helpful. Thanks!

 

[MikeW]

Are they still pumping oil from Pennsylvania? I don't know why, but I got the impression that they went dry long ago. My guess is the get base stock in bulk from one of the big crude refiners.

 

[novadude]

People are still pumping oil in PA, but it is small quantities. Quaker state pulled thier whole business out of Oil City, PA years ago. No production is done in PA anymore. I *think* Pennzoil shut down the Rouseville refinery around the time they introduced "Purebase". They pulled out of PA too. I'm pretty sure they used to produce oil in Rouseville.... I'd travel from Warren, PA to Pittsburgh, and see all the pallets of yellow bottles sitting inside the loading dock.

 

[Mystic]

At one time there were some three billion barrels of known crude oil reserves in Penn. One billion barrels have been removed. Two billion barrels remain, but they can't get most of the rest out of the ground. People are lucky to be able to get 30% of the crude oil out of the ground. They have to use chemicals, water flooding, and carbon dioxide to force crude oil out of the ground.

 

[novadude]

Sorta off topic, anyway. It is actually sad to drive around in the Oil City / Franklin / Titusville area and see how it is turning into a ghost town now that the big oil companies have pulled out of the region. Quaker State, Pennzoil, and Wolf's Head all used to be in Oil City. Kendall used to be in Bradford. They have all left PA.

 

[Mystic]

They discovered a large field of carbon dioxide only about fifty miles from where I live (Little Sheep Mountain). They use it to force crude oil out of the ground. There is a considerable oil field south of where I live, in northern New Mexico. I don't know how much the proven reserves are, but they are busy down there. By American standards, it looks like a big field.

 

[MikeW]

Since we've taken a side trip into Offtopicville anyway... If oil gets expensive enough, they'll go after that other 70%. They can usually get the leftover crude out the ground if they're willing to spend the necessary money. Oil prices just have to be high enough to make it worthwhile. If oil ever hit $50-60 a barrel, new supplies would be popping up all over the place.

quote:

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Originally posted by Mystic: At one time there were some three billion barrels of known crude oil reserves in Penn. One billion barrels have been removed. Two billion barrels remain, but they can't get most of the rest out of the ground. People are lucky to be able to get 30% of the crude oil out of the ground. They have to use chemicals, water flooding, and carbon dioxide to force crude oil out of the ground.

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