El Tigre

Lore & Background

In the 1930s, a large field of light crude oil was discovered near El Tigrito by the Mene Grande Oil Company, a subsidiary of Gulf Oil Corporation. The Oficina No. 1 well, begun in 1933 and completed in 1937, established the highly productive Oficina Formation. The oil discovery led to the founding of El Tigre on February 23, 1933, when Mene Grande established their offices in Campo Oficina. El Tigre quickly became a boomtown. By 1940 a road and an oil pipeline had been constructed to connect El Tigre with Puerto La Cruz. By 1946, 512 wells had been drilled, and the region had produced 127 million barrels of oil. The nearby oil company camp San Tomé was built near El Tigre as the main camp for Mene Grande.

Reader's Guide

El Tigre is in full conurbation with San Jose de Guanipa (El Tigrito). One nearby tourist destination is the Chimire Cliffs. The city is served by San Tomé Airport. Main roads include National Trunk Highway Km 15 and Km 16, and Regional Road (El Tigre – Atapirire).

Did You Know?

• The average temperature in El Tigre is 79 °F all year around, with annual average rainfall of 1,200 mm.
• The Simón Rodríguez Municipality had a population of 194,858 inhabitants according to the 2011 Venezuelan census.
• The first radio station in El Tigre was La Voz de EL Tigre, installed on January 9, 1948.
• The mayor of the Simón Rodríguez Municipality is Ernesto Raydan, elected in 2017 with 51.95% of the votes.