The first oil well was drilled in 1884, a time when independent oilmen came West seeking their fortunes away from the eastern oil scene dominated by Standard Oil. Wyoming holds about 2.3 percent of AmericaвЂ™s known oil reserves today, ranking between California and Louisiana as the eighth largest oil producing state. Roy Chamberlain and James Hoblit, two working class oilmen, built the refinery in 1933 and named it after themselves-C&H. Once he adjusted to the emptiness of the prairie, Khalid made himself expert in his purchase. Tim Graham/Getty Images Prisma by Dukas Presseagentur GmbH/Alamy Stock Photo Coming from the bustle of Islamabad, Pakistan (left), Zahir Khalid found the quiet of Lusk, Wyoming, and the surrounding plains (right) unsettling when he came to buy C&H Refinery in 1998. He paid cash and trusted that the future would make itself clear. вЂњI was thinking that if this man leaves me here, how will I ever get home?вЂќ The refinery struck him as little more than a pile of industrial junk, yet he felt he had come so far. вЂњI was afraid to see the empty plains with no humans in sight,вЂќ Khalid said. The owner, a retired oilman, picked him up and drove him four hours north, where the contrast with the urban bustle of Islamabad terrified him. Khalid flew from Pakistan to Denver to see the site before he finalized the purchase. The refinery had not produced anything but local resentment and rust for years. He initially saw the refinery as a chance to buy into the American oil industry, but it was a classic case of caveat emptor-buyer beware. A devout Muslim, Khalid has the military bearing and discipline from his former life as a fighter pilot, and the persuasive charism of a wheeler-dealer businessman. Khalid purchased the C&H Refinery in 1998 after learning it was for sale on an early Yahoo chat room. A half a world away in Islamabad, Pakistan, its owner, Zahir Khalid, works to keep the tiny industrial site from literally blowing away. The worldвЂ™s smallest oil refinery sits on the side of the road just outside of Lusk, Wyoming, a windswept prairie town, population 1,558.

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