Standard Oil of Indiana then began to build a small refinery next to the transshipping facility port.

Because Aruba was under Dutch control, the Lago refinery became an important asset by providing a place outside the United States where aviation gasoline could be produced without legal and international problems.

Thus, the size of that refinery expanded long before the United States entered World War II.

With the United States entry into World War II in 1942, the demand for Aviation gasoline further increased and considerable expansion was done at the Lago Refinery soon after that.

When demand for gasoline was high after World War II, the Lago Refinery was running at full capacity and employed over 10,000 personnel.

About a thousand were foreign staff employees in supervisory positions and the remainder of the work force was from the native population of Aruba as well as "off-islanders", imported from mainly the British West Indies.