Merkwiller-Pechelbronn

Commune in Grand Est, France

Coat of arms

Location of Merkwiller-Pechelbronn

(2020–2026) Laura Valentine Dorffer^[1]Area

3.76 km² (1.45 sq mi)Population

(2021)^[2]

925 • Density250/km² (640/sq mi)Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET) • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)INSEE/Postal code

67290 /67250

Elevation153–199 m (502–653 ft)¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Merkwiller-Pechelbronn (German: Merkweiler-Pechelbronn) is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France.^[3]

It is notable as the original home of oil sands mining.

Oil sands were mined from 1745 in Merkwiller-Pechelbronn,^[4] initially under the direction of Louis Pierre Ancillon de la Sablonnière, by special appointment of Louis XV. The Pechelbronn oil field was active until 1970, and was the birthplace of companies such as Antar and Schlumberger. The first modern oil sands refinery was built there in 1857; and it also had the first school of oil technology.^[5]

References

^ "Répertoire national des élus: les maires" (in French). data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises. 13 September 2022.
^ "Populations légales 2021". The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 28 December 2023.
^ INSEE commune file
^ "The oil wells of Alsace; a discovery made more than a century ago. What a Pennsylvania operator saw abroad--primitive methods of obtaining oil--the process similar to that used in coal mining" (PDF). New York Times. 23 February 1880.
^ "History of Pechelbronn oil" Archived 2009-07-25 at the Wayback Machine