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(95.618E
27.391N) The British
had discovered oil seeps in Assam as early as 1828,
but the first oil well was drilled at Digboi during railroad
construction in
1889. A refinery was built in 1901. At the time, Digboi was
a
nearly uninhabited corner of the Assam jungle,
subject
to torrential monsoon rain and
infested with
malaria.
Production was near its peak of 2.5 million barrels a
year in
1941, and the oil field had its own refinery. A 4" (10cm) pipeline was constructed from Digboi paralleling the Ledo Road that was supplying fuel to Myitkyina by October 1944.
Production has since fallen off to very low levels. Today, the refinery is essentially a historical museum.
References
Indialine.com (accessed 2011-12-2)
Romanus and Sunderland (1952; accessed 2011-12-2)
The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia © 2007, 2011 by Kent G. Budge. Index
