Union Oil Company of California (Unocal) / Pure Oil
Plaintiffs alleged asbestos exposure at Union Oil Company of California (Unocal) / Pure Oil plants in California. Premises-liability information for California workers.
Union Oil Company of California (Unocal) / Pure Oil — Plants in California
Plaintiffs alleged in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation that they were exposed to asbestos while working at Union Oil Company of California (Unocal) / Pure Oil plants in California. This page documents the California portion of Union Oil Company of California (Unocal) / Pure Oil’s multi-state operations. For the full corporate summary and plants in other states, see the Union Oil Company of California (Unocal) / Pure Oil manufacturer page.
Premises Description
Union Oil Company of California (Unocal — founded 1890, headquartered Los Angeles CA and later El Segundo CA; acquired by Chevron 2005) and its subsidiary Pure Oil Company (acquired 1965) operated through the 20th century one of the principal U.S. integrated oil majors, particularly dominant on the West Coast. Unocal / Pure Oil operated through the asbestos era U.S. refining and petrochemical sites including:
Los Angeles Refinery (Wilmington CA / Carson CA) — historic Union Oil flagship LA-area refinery
Rodeo Refinery (Rodeo CA) — Bay Area refinery (later Tosco / ConocoPhillips)
San Francisco Refinery (Oleum CA) — historic Bay Area refinery
Santa Maria Refinery (Nipomo CA) — Central Coast refinery
Kenai AK — Alaska refinery
Lemont Refinery (Lemont IL) — Pure Oil legacy Mid-Continent refinery
Chicago IL / Great Lakes — Pure Oil legacy operations
Each operated continuously through the asbestos era with extensive asbestos-containing refinery infrastructure.
Plaintiffs alleged in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation that Union Oil / Unocal / Pure Oil — as premises owner — exposed its refinery operator workforce and contractor pipefitters, insulators, boilermakers, and trade workers to extensive asbestos.
Union Oil / Unocal / Pure Oil / Chevron has been named as a Premises Defendant in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation.
Workers Exposed
OCAW / USW refinery operators at Unocal / Pure Oil refineries
Refinery pipefitters (UA Local members) working Unocal turnarounds
Insulators (HFIAW Local members) on Unocal construction and turnaround crews
Refinery boilermakers (IBB Local members) at Unocal refineries
Construction-trade workforces on Unocal EPC projects
If You Worked at a Unocal / Union Oil / Pure Oil Refinery
If you worked at a Union Oil Company of California (Unocal) or Pure Oil Company refinery or petrochemical plant during the asbestos era — as an employee or as a dispatched contractor trade worker — and have since been diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, lung cancer, or another asbestos-related illness, you may have legal rights.
Oil and petrochemical asbestos exposure like this is a leading cause of mesothelioma, often diagnosed decades later. If you or a family member worked here:
Add facilities where you worked to build your exposure record.
No facilities added yet.
Click “I Worked Here” on any facility page to add it.
Firsthand Accounts from the Trades
Did you work at Union Oil Company of California (Unocal) / Pure 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 Union Oil Company of California (Unocal) / Pure 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.
🏭
Facility History
Operations established during the high-use era of asbestos specification
Demolition, renovation notifications, and certification activity
1990s–Present
Level 1B
Supports material category documentation and trade activity
OSHA / EPA RecordsFederal
Inspections, enforcement, compliance, and regulatory publications
1970s–Present
Level 1B
Includes regulatory records relevant to facility activity and material use
Facility RecordsPrimary
Plant records, permits, reports, and facility specifications
Construction–Present
Level 4
Publicly available facility records and historical documents
If you've been diagnosed with mesothelioma or an asbestos-related disease and worked at Union Oil Company of California (Unocal) / Pure Oil, you may have legal rights.
O'Brien Law Firm · Attorneys with experience working in California
General Equipment Walkthrough
Equipment systems documented or commonly present at Union Oil Company of California (Unocal) / Pure 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.
Plaintiffs allegedly worked at the Johns-Manville Lompoc CA bulk asbestos-fiber processing plant. …
Union Oil Company of California (Unocal) / Pure Oil — California Plant Asbestos Exposure — Frequently Asked Questions
Is Union Oil Company of California (Unocal) / Pure Oil — California Plant Asbestos Exposure documented in asbestos litigation records?
Yes. Union Oil Company of California (Unocal) / Pure Oil — California Plant Asbestos Exposure 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 Union Oil Company of California (Unocal) / Pure Oil — California Plant Asbestos Exposure?
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 Union Oil Company of California (Unocal) / Pure Oil — California Plant Asbestos Exposure?
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 California?
California law gives 5 years from the date of medical diagnosis to file a personal-injury asbestos lawsuit. Wrongful-death claims must be filed within 3 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 Union Oil Company of California (Unocal) / Pure Oil — California Plant Asbestos Exposure 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 California 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.
Sponsored Attorney — Attorney Advertising
Mesothelioma Attorney for California Asbestos Claims
If you were diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, or another asbestos-related disease after being exposed to asbestos — or you lost a loved one to one — you and your family may have a legal claim and civil claims. An experienced asbestos attorney can evaluate the case — at no cost to you.
Living with a diagnosis?
If you were diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease, a filing deadline may already be running. You may have a legal claim now — and claims can often be pursued even if the company is out of business.
Lost a loved one to mesothelioma?
Surviving spouses and children may pursue a wrongful-death claim and asbestos-trust recovery on a loved one's behalf — a separate deadline that can run from the date of passing.
Free case review — no obligation to hire
No attorney fee unless a financial recovery is made
Personal-injury and wrongful-death claims both evaluated
Trust-fund claims and civil lawsuits pursued simultaneously
Filing deadlines may limit the time you have — the sooner the better
Attorneys with experience handling California claims · Asbestos & Mesothelioma Claims
Get a Free Case Evaluation
✓
Thank you. Your inquiry has been submitted. An attorney will be in touch shortly.
Attorney Advertising. This website is published by Rights Watch Media Group LLC, an independent media organization, and is not a law firm. Visiting this site or submitting this form does not create an attorney-client relationship. O'Brien Law Firm works with attorneys with experience handling asbestos and mesothelioma claims in California. Free consultations are offered at no obligation. Legal representation is provided on a contingency basis — there is no charge unless a financial recovery is made on your behalf. Individual results vary; past results do not guarantee future outcomes. Inquiries submitted to asbestoscalifornia.com are routed directly and exclusively to O'Brien Law Firm. Rights Watch Media Group LLC is an independent publisher and is not a lawyer referral service. We do not sell or share inquiries with other firms.
Build a documented exposure history across every facility you worked at.
Add your email when you're done and we'll send you a PDF copy you can keep, share, or print.