El Dorado oil refinery celebrates 100th anniversary

EL DORADO, Ar. (KNOE) - Having opened its doors in 1922, The Lion Oil Refinery in El Dorado is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.

Many workers have come and gone throughout the past century.

“I started at the bottom, so the old saying from the bottom and now I’m here. I transitioned from an $8.00 an hour temp to A senior maintenance manager,” said Senior Maintenance Supervisor Jeff Savage.

Another worker, David Brumley, has been at the refinery the longest. “

Some you know ups and downs and mostly ups, but I’ve seen lots of downs, but the whole 33 years I’ve enjoyed it,” said Brumley.

“You liken it to a sports team; you’ve got football, you’ve got an offensive, defensive, special teams here. You’ve got operations, you’ve got the maintenance, you’ve got safety, reliability inspections, you’ve got the lab, you’ve got all these intricate parts that come together and everyone does their part to make that gallon of gas hit the pumps,” said Savage.

Much of that is being passed down to the new generation coming in.

“We’ve recently just hired a new hire class, and so now it’s our time to carry on the tradition and train the new guys to continue to run this facility so that we’re fruitful and we’ve got a long tenure within the confines of this of this city,” said Savage.

The refinery means a lot to the community and to the workers.

“To the city, into the county and how many jobs it’s brought in, how many families its fed, and just a great place to work,“ said Brumley.

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