First Oil Refinery

The price of oil and gasoline has been raising steadily recently. The gasoline national average is almost $3.00 per gallon (and obviously over $3.00 in California). Besides the obvious increase in the price per barrel of oil, another oft cited reason is a reduction in refining capacity. This got me interested in reading about how a refinery works. Surprisingly, the world's first ever oil refinery was built at Ploiesti in Romania! The refinery was built with American financial support, only to be later bombed during WW2, and subsequently rebuilt. How the world turns ...