A public company launched to restructure a company formed in 1868, also called the Oakbank Oil Co. Ltd., and raise an additional £45,000 of capital to fund redevelopment of Oakbank Oil Works and other extension of the business. The company's ambitions were for a long time restricted by the limited output of the small Oakbank shalefield, supplemented for a short period by shale from the Newfarm mines.
In c.1899, the company acquired previously unexploited mineral leases at Duddingston in the Hopetoun estate, and opened mines to serve a new crude oil works at Niddry Castle. Crude oil from Niddry Castle was then shipped to Oakbank for refining. The crude oil output of the Dalmeny oil works was also refined at Oakbank and in 1915, after a long period of association, the Oakbank Oil Co. Ltd. purchased the Dalmeny Oil Co. Ltd. In the first few years of the 20th century, the Oakbank company purchased mineral rights at Easter Breich, following collapse of the New Hermand Oil Co. Ltd., and also the adjacent Westwood shalefield.
Oakbank was one of the five companies that survived to become part of Scottish Oils Ltd. in 1919. The subsequent development of Westwood pit and the expansion of the Duddingston pits contributed a large proportion of the shale produced until the end of the industry, and the Oakbank was the operating company for the Westwood Crude Oil Works, constructed during World War Two.
Directors
- Charles Fraser - 1886-1919
- John Marshall Easton - 1886-1919
- John Bruce - 1886-after 1887
- Archibald Ritchie Gillespie - 1886-1906 (Chairman from 1899-1906)
- Andrew J. Kirkpatrick - 1886-unknown
- Alexander Osborne - 1886-after 1898 (Chairman from 1886-1898)
- George Readman - 1886-unknown and 1888-unknown
- Dr Robert Thomas Moore - before 1903-1919 (Chairman from before 1908-1919)
- James Jones - before 1899-1912/13
- John Wishart - before 1906-1919 (Managing Director from before 1909-1919)
- Sir William Fraser (1st Baron Strathalmond) - 1919-between 1954 and 1956 (Managing Director from 1919-1941, Chairman from 1943-1956)
- Sir John Buck Lloyd - 1919-1946/47
- Herbert Edward Nichols - 1919-1927
- John Douglas Stewart - 1919-1925/26
- Duncan Garrow - 1921-1925/26
- Robert Irving Watson - 1921-1947
- Sir Frederick William Black - 1921-1922
- Sir John Traill Cargill Bt - 1923-1943
- Sir Hubert Bryan Heath Eves - 1926-1950/51
- Lord Sir John Cadman KCMG - 1926-1941 (image below)
- Robert Crichton - 1930-1954 (Managing Director from 1941-1954)
- Basil Rawdon Jackson - 1951-1957 (image below)
- John Martin Caldwell - 1952-1962/63 (Managing Director from 1954-1962/63)
- Sir Harold Ernest Snow CBE - 1953/54-1954/55 and 1956/57-1961/62 (image below)
- Hon. William Fraser (2nd Baron Strathalmond) - 1954-1956
- John Paterson - before 1956/57-1963
- Duncan Anderson - before 1956/57-1961/62
- Sir Neville Archibald Gass KBE - 1956-1960/61 (Chairman from 1957-) (image below)
- Hon. Maurice Richard Bridgeman CBE - 1960/61-1963 (Chairman from 1960/61-1963) (image below)
- Sir Arthur Eric Courtney Drake CBE - 1961/62-1963 (image below)
- John Mellor Pattinson CBE - 1961/62-1963 (image below)
- Maurice Alfred Lister Banks - 1962/63- 1963
- Dr Willison Bryce Peutherer - 1962/63- (image below)
