Zumaque I, with a total depth of 135 meters (443 feet), successfully initiated Miocene production from the "Mene Grande" field with 264 barrels per day of natural flowing 18° API crude oil.
The presence of large reserves of petroleum in the region attracted the attention of geologists and served as the base for the study of the zone between San Timoteo and Río Paují, all of which was included inside the immense reserve of petroleum (around 270,000 km²) obtained in 1909 by John Alen Tregelles, a representative of the English business "The Venezuela Development Company", during the government of general Juan Vicente Gómez.
With a capacity of 8,000 barrels per day, the San Lorenzo Refinery was one of the most modern of that time and the first of its kind in Venezuela, constituting a giant step in the development of the Mene Grande oil field that marked the course of hydrocarbon exploitation in the nation.
From Zumaque-1 on December 14, 1936, one year after the death of Gómez, the first large-scale oil strike in Venezuelan history was called, which was harshly repressed by General Eleazar López Contreras.
In 1996, within the framework of the Oil Opening during the presidency of Rafael Caldera, the field passed into the hands of the Spanish company Repsol under the figure of an operating agreement.
Then in 2007, with the oil renationalization decreed by President Hugo Chávez, the field became the property of the mixed company Petroquiriquire, formed by Repsol and PDVSA.