The Gary oil refinery is located in Fruita, Colorado, approximately 250 miles west of Denver and just a few miles east if the Utah border. It was constructed in 1957 by the American Gilsonite Company to process gilsonite, a solid hydrocarbon ore mined in Northeastern Utah. Gary Energy acquired the refinery in 1973 after American Gilsonite discontinued the refining of gilsonite ore. It should be noted that the processing of gilsonite into refined products was one of the early forerunners of this nation's synthetic fuels industry.