Plaintiffs allegedly were exposed to asbestos at Getty Oil's Tulsa Oklahoma refinery — the historic Skelly Oil Company Mid-Continent refinery Getty acquired 1977. OBLF consultation.
Getty Oil / Skelly Oil in Oklahoma — Tulsa Refinery
Skelly Oil Company (founded 1919 in Tulsa Oklahoma by William Grove Skelly) built the Tulsa Refinery in the West Tulsa refinery corridor along the Arkansas River — a Mid-Continent refinery that operated continuously from the 1920s through the asbestos era producing gasoline, distillates, lubricants, and petrochemical feedstocks. Getty Oil Company acquired the majority interest in Skelly Oil in 1937 and completed the acquisition in 1977, folding Tulsa into Getty’s national refining system. Texaco acquired Getty in 1984; the Tulsa refinery ultimately passed through Sinclair/Holly successor operations. The historic Skelly office tower in downtown Tulsa remains a Tulsa landmark. Skelly also operated substantial mid-continent field operations and pipeline infrastructure administered from the Tulsa office.
Premises ACM Narrative
Plaintiffs alleged in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation that the Getty / Skelly Tulsa refinery premises allegedly involved:
Asbestos pipe covering on crude, vacuum, catalytic-cracker, reformer, and hydrotreater process piping across the refinery
Asbestos-block insulation on distillation columns, heat exchangers, and process vessels
Asbestos-sheet gaskets and rope packing at flanges, valve stems, and pump seals throughout process units
Asbestos refractory and insulation on process heaters, catalytic-cracker regenerators, and boiler-house steam generators
Asbestos-cement transite panels and roofing on process-unit structures and utility buildings
Asbestos-fabric welding blankets and PPE handled during turnaround work
Asbestos-containing brake friction on refinery vehicles and shop equipment
Workers Exposed
Plaintiffs allegedly included:
OCAW / USW refinery operators at Skelly / Getty Tulsa
UA pipefitters (Tulsa-area Locals) working refinery turnarounds and capital projects
HFIAW insulators applying and removing pipe covering, block, and refractory
IBB boilermakers on process heaters, cat-cracker regenerators, and powerhouse boilers
IBEW electricians on refinery motor-control centers and switchgear
Millwrights on pump, compressor, and rotating-equipment rebuilds
Outside contractor trades on Skelly / Getty Tulsa EPC and turnaround projects
If You Worked at the Skelly / Getty Tulsa Refinery
If you or a family member worked at the Skelly Oil / Getty Oil Tulsa Oklahoma refinery or the West Tulsa refinery corridor before 1980 and have been diagnosed with mesothelioma, lung cancer, asbestosis, or another asbestos-related disease, you may have a legal claim.
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Firsthand Accounts from the Trades
Did you work at Getty Oil / Skelly Oil? Add your account.
Records show what a plant was. They don't show what the work was like. If you
were sent there — insulation, pipe, boilers, sheet metal, electrical, laborer — tell us what you
remember: which units or buildings, what you handled, what came down during an outage. Every account
helps another worker or a family understand where exposure happened, and where to look next.
About these accounts: they are personal recollections shared by
workers and their families — individual memory, not records, and not independently verified.
The site history and documented exposure record on this page come from public and regulatory sources.
These accounts sit alongside that record — they add to it, they don't change it.
What asbestos exposure pathways are associated with Getty Oil / Skelly Oil?
Pathways in this report refer to commonly used asbestos-containing material systems at industrial facilities that may contribute to exposure practices, fiber transfer, and deposition. Activities include maintenance, repair, overhaul, and demolition across these systems.
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Facility History
Operations established during the high-use era of asbestos specification
O'Brien Law Firm · Attorneys with experience working in Oklahoma
General Equipment Walkthrough
Equipment systems documented or commonly present at Getty Oil / Skelly Oil. Each link opens a research crosswalk on AsbestosIndex with manufacturer, trust-fund, and product history.
Equipment list drawn from public litigation records, EPA / state DNR filings, and facility-type defaults. Specific product identification depends on facility records and witness testimony.
Is Getty Oil / Skelly Oil — Tulsa OK Refinery Asbestos Exposure & Claims documented in asbestos litigation records?
Yes. Getty Oil / Skelly Oil — Tulsa OK Refinery Asbestos Exposure & Claims is documented in public asbestos litigation records, EPA NESHAP filings, OSHA inspection logs, and/or state regulatory databases. Workers at industrial facilities of this era routinely encountered asbestos-containing materials in pipe insulation, gaskets, packing, boiler block, refractory products, floor and ceiling tiles, and electrical components.
Which workers had the highest asbestos exposure at Getty Oil / Skelly Oil — Tulsa OK Refinery Asbestos Exposure & Claims?
Trades with documented asbestos exposure at industrial facilities include pipefitters, insulators (laggers), boilermakers, millwrights, electricians, welders, sheet-metal workers, plumbers, carpenters, machinists, painters, and general laborers. Maintenance crews, refractory bricklayers, and shutdown contractors often had the most concentrated exposure during overhaul and tear-out work.
What asbestos products did workers handle at Getty Oil / Skelly Oil — Tulsa OK Refinery Asbestos Exposure & Claims?
Asbestos-containing products commonly documented at industrial facilities of this era include thermal pipe lagging and block insulation (steam lines, valves, boilers), asbestos cement, refractory brick and burner-front gun-block, gaskets and braided packing (valves, pumps, flanges), boiler-tube insulation and lagging, vinyl asbestos floor tile, acoustic ceiling tile, and asbestos-containing transite board. Specific product manufacturers are catalogued at AsbestosIndex.
Is there a deadline to file an asbestos claim in Oklahoma?
Oklahoma law gives 2 years from the date of medical diagnosis to file a personal-injury asbestos lawsuit. Wrongful-death claims must be filed within 2 years from the date of death. The two deadlines run on separate tracks. The personal-injury clock starts at diagnosis, not at exposure — mesothelioma latency is typically 20 to 50 years.
Who else besides Getty Oil / Skelly Oil — Tulsa OK Refinery Asbestos Exposure & Claims workers may have been exposed?
Yes. Spouses who laundered work clothing carrying asbestos fibers and children of workers who returned home covered in dust are recognized in Oklahoma asbestos litigation as eligible for secondary (household) exposure claims when they have been diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease. Wrongful-death claims may be filed by surviving family members.
Can workers file both a civil suit and trust-fund claims?
Yes — more than 60 asbestos bankruptcy trusts hold combined funds set aside specifically for victims of asbestos-related disease. Trust-fund claims and civil lawsuits run on separate tracks; both can be pursued in parallel. Each trust has its own filing requirements, exposure criteria, and processing timeline.
Disclaimer: The information in this article is for general educational purposes only and does not constitute medical or legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is created by reading this site. References to companies, products, and facilities are drawn from public asbestos litigation records, court filings, and regulatory databases. Consult a licensed physician for medical guidance and a qualified attorney for legal advice regarding your specific situation.
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