What is the history of oil operations in Southwest Florida?
The first oil discovery in Florida was made in Collier County by the Humble Oil and Refining Company (a predecessor to ExxonMobil Corporation) in 1943 on Collier minerals at Sunniland Field, located just south of Immokalee. Since that time, eight Southwest Florida commercial oil fields have produced more than 118 million barrels of oil from the Sunniland Oil Trend at some of the highest on-shore per-well flow rates in the country. In 1977, the Trends peak year, more than 14,000 barrels per day were being produced. For many years, Humble Oil/Exxon was the predominant operator in the Sunniland Trend. In addition to Sunniland Field, it discovered and produced oil under leases from CRC in the Big Cypress National Preserve at Bear Island beginning in the mid-1970s and at Raccoon Point beginning in the early 1980s. Exxon later sold its interest to Calumet Florida, LLC in 1993. Today, BreitBurn Florida, LLC, the successor to Calumet, continues to produce oil from the Bear Island and Raccoon P
