The Creole Petroleum Corporation was an American oil company, formed in 1920 to produce fields on Lake Maracaibo

Lake Maracaibo

Lake Maracaibo is a large brackish bay in Venezuela at . It is connected to the Gulf of Venezuela by Tablazo Strait at the northern end, and fed by numerous rivers, the largest being the Catatumbo. It is commonly considered a lake rather than a bay or lagoon, and at 13,210 km² it would be the...

, Venezuela

Venezuela

Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...

. The company was acquired by Standard Oil of New Jersey

Esso

Esso is an international trade name for ExxonMobil and its related companies. Pronounced , it is derived from the initials of the pre-1911 Standard Oil, and as such became the focus of much litigation and regulatory restriction in the United States. In 1972, it was largely replaced in the U.S. by...

 in 1928. Until 1951 Creole Petroleum was the world's number one oil producer.

In 1950, Creole opened its refinery at Amuay

Amuay

Amuay is a fishing town located in the Paraguana Peninsula, in Falcón state, Venezuela. It is a natural bay, also has a fishing port and the bigger part of the Paraguana Refinery Complex is located there....

. This is now a part of the Paraguaná Refinery Complex

Paraguana Refinery Complex

The Paraguaná Refinery Complex is a crude oil refinery located in the Venezuelan state Falcón and currently considered the world´s second largest refinery complex, just after Jamnagar Refinery in India. It's the result of the fusion of Amuay Refinery, Bajo Grande Refinery and Cardón Refinery....

.

The Venezuelan assets of Creole Petroleum Corporation were nationalized along with those of other foreign oil firms on January 1, 1976, becoming part of Lagoven, a Venezuelan government-owned operating company.