Oljeön

Engelsberg Oljefabrik

Useful Information

Location:	Ängelsberg. Oljeön ferry terminal, opposite Ängelsberg railway station. (59.957095, 16.003115)
Open:	14-MAY to 19-JUN Sat, Sun, Hol 14. 25-JUN to 10-JUL daily 11:45, 14. 11-JUL to 07-AUG daily 10, 11:45, 14. 08-AUG to 21-AUG daily 11:45, 14. 27-AUG to 25-SEP Sat, Sun 14. Online booking required. [2022]
Fee:	Adults SEK 100, Children (0-15) free. Groups (20+): Adults SEK 80, Students (-26) SEK 55. [2022]
Classification:	Crude Oil
Light:	Incandescent Electric Light System
Dimension:
Guided tours:	D=90 min, Max=20. Audio guides at the Visitor Center in Ängelsberg
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	partly
Bibliography:
Address:	Visitor center in Ängelsberg, Ängelsbergsvägen 15, 737 90 Ängelsberg. E-mail: Fagersta Turism, Bangårdsgatan 4, 737 80 Fagersta, Tel: +46-223-444-64. E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1875	oil refinery opened.
23-JUL-1901	the schooner Louise Adelaide explodes killing 10 people including two Swedish customs.
1902	refinery closed and transformed into a distribution warehouse for the same products.
1927	factory finally closed.

Description

Oljeön (Oil Island) is a historic oil factory museum located on a small island in Lake Åmänningen in Ängelsberg. The crude oil from Pennsylvania in the USA was transported by ship to Stockholm and the then by barge on Strömsholm canal. It was refined in the factory on the Oil Island. The factory supplied households and industry with light oil, gun grease, machine grease and kerosene. The kerosene, needed for kerosene lamps, was the most important product. The factory and refinery was built in 1875 and the refinery was shut down in 1902. The factory was then used as a distribution warehouse for the same products until it was finally closed in 1927.

The factory is the result of the stubbornness of Pehr August Ålund. He had the idea to refine oil and sell the products, a quite new technology. So he started with a period of enthusiastic experimentation, the explosions he produced were infamous. In 1875, he built his factory on Barrön in Lake Åmänningen, which was soon renamed Oljeön (Oil Island). He reasoned, that the risk of fire and explosion was very great and on an island the possible damage was limited.

In the beginning, he was allowed to produce 1000 barrels a year. He employed carpenters, machinists, kerosene washers and factory workers. His business flourished despite foreign-produced lamp oils and lubricating oils. There were protective tolls on imported goods, which kept the factory in business. After the tolls were abolished, the oil factory could not compete with the foreign products.

But the event which finally caused the closure of the refinery was a fire in the port of Gäddviken in Stockholm. The fire destroyed the schooner Louise Adelaide, which exploded and killed 10 people including two Swedish customs. The cargo of 1,600 barrels of crude oil, naphtha, and kerosene from the United States wasd destroyed. As a result there was no crude oil and the refinery was closed. If became a distribution warehouse for the same products, but the cheaper imported stuff.

Eight buildings on the island are preserved, the factory, the cookhouse, a woodshed, the oil cellar, the laundry, the outhouse and a residential building. In the 1890s, eight families and a few bachelors lived on the island.

The tour includes the ferry ride, so it actually starts at the ferry terminal next to Ängelsberg station. Quite funny, the ferry is named Petrolia. Smoking is not allowed on the island or the ferry, and it's strictly forbidden to lick on the wall because they are full of hydrocarbons.