Bayou State Oil

Bayou State Oil was formed by the merger of the Austin Oil Company and the Bayou State Refining Company on April 22, 1926. The company consisted of several oil and gas producing properties in the Hosston-Vivian-Trees City area of the Caddo Pine Island Field in northern Caddo Parish, Louisiana. This band of wells producing from the Nacatoch sand was locally called the "shoe-string". In addition, there was a small lubricating oil refinery located in the town of Hosston, Louisiana. In 1969, an in-situ combustion, or "fire-flood", project was initiated on company leases in the Bellevue Field. As of today, more than five million barrels of crude have been produced from less than two hundred acres. Several other operators have started and completed similar projects in the Bellevue Field. Bayou State Oil currently has the only active fire-flood in the field and in the United States. Paul M. Brown became President in 1935 and successfully operated & grew the company for many years. In 1960 Charles Ellis Brown, Sr. started his 50 years of dedicated service with Bayou State Oil, working his way through the ranks as Geologist, Manager, Vice-President, President, and Chairman of the Board. Ellis Brown Jr. took over the reins of BSOC in 2012 as the 3rd generation to direct the company.