Demetrius Gustavus Scofield (January 28, 1843 – July 31, 1917)[1] was a pioneer of the oil business inCalifornia who founded a number of companies in that state and became the first president ofStandard Oil of California.[2][3]
He served as secretary to the now-defunctF.W. Mitchell Oil Company of Pennsylvania during theTitusville oil boom and arrived in California in about 1875,[1] as thePico Canyon Oilfield was being developed. By 1876, he was the manager of the small refinery of theCalifornia Star Oil Works, which was capable of refining up to 40 barrels (6.4 m3) of oil a day.[1] The facility, located atLyon Station inLos Angeles County was thefirst refinery in California. It is now abandoned but may be restored as an historical site.[4] Scofield hired oil well drillerCharles Alexander Mentry (1847-1900) and financing oil well of the Pico Canyon Oilfield.[5][6]
By 1879 he was a key employee of thePacific Coast Oil Company[7] responsible for bringing other skilled workers to California. In that year, the Pacific Coast Oil Company completed a five-mile (8 km) long, 2-inch-diameter (51 mm) pipeline from Pico Canyon to a new refinery nearNewhall.
In 1906, Pacific Coast Oil Company was acquired byStandard Oil. With the 1911 breakup of that corporation, Scofield became president of the newStandard Oil of California.
The Associated Press reported that on July 30 1917, he shot and killed himself at his home. He was 74 and despondent over his wife's death five years before.[8]
He was the namesake of the oil tanker, the MS D. G. Scofield which was, on 1 May 1939,[9] the first oil tanker to load oil inSaudi Arabia.
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