Talara

Talara is a port city on the Pacific Ocean in the Talara Province of the Piura Region of northwestern Peru, with 91,444 inhabitants in 2017 and a hot, dry climate. It is the westernmost city of mainland South America. Oil shaped its history: the International Petroleum Company, a branch of Standard Oil of New Jersey, began operating there in the 1920s, took control of the oil operations in 1924 by acquiring the assets of Lobitos Oilfield Limited, and built the Talara refinery, pipelines and port facilities. The company built a separate American town for foreign staff while Peruvian workers lived in peripheral areas. Because of its oil and its ability to produce aviation fuel, Talara hosted a United States air base in the Second World War and was one of two refuelling stations of the Pacific Fleet; three British destroyers were refuelled there on their way to catch the Graf Spee. It has a large fishing fleet, an airport, and served, with Piura and Amotape, as the backdrop for a short novel by Mario Vargas Llosa about the death of Palomino Molero.