In 1904 Point Fortin and Guapo were wildernesses. Formerly sugar plantations, they had collapsed following Emancipation and with the exception of a few smallholdings and a tract of coconuts, the rest was dense jungle. In that year, the Government geologist, Cunningham Craig and an English counterpart, Arthur Beeby-Thompson began exploring the high woods for signs of oil. In the hinterland behind Guapo, they discovered what they considered positive signs. Leases were arranged with La Fortune and Adventure Estates and several test wells were bored, all proving to be large producers.
The first was done under the auspices of a hastily assembled operation called Trinidad Petroleum Ltd in 1907. Drilled at Guapo, it was considered to be the first commercially successful well in the island as earlier attempts had ended in economic disaster. In response to this success, a new company, Trinidad Oilfields Ltd (Tol) was incorporated by Beeby-Thompson in London in order to raise capital for further work.
He travelled between England and Trinidad extensively and oversaw the establishment of a refinery at the old Clifton Hill Estate in 1910-12. This was the genesis of the Trinidad energy boom. World War I (1914-18) created immense demand for fuel and Point Fortin grew exponentially. A jetty was erected and connected to a small railway which ran from what is now Melville Triangle through the eastern part of Mahaica and then down to the sea. Prefabricated bungalows were assembled to provide housing for senior (white) staff on Clifton Hill Estate and large workshops built. By the 1920s, the oil boom in Point Fortin had attracted hundreds of people to settle in the vicinity yet still, there was a demand for labour. United British Oilfields Trinidad (UBOT) had assumed refinery control from Tol. Between 1930 and 1950 a rapid expansion occurred with large numbers of Grenadian and Barbadian immigrants coming to Point Fortin as labourers. These people initially lived in squalid squatting communities near Frisco Junction and in Mahaica until the company constructed decent semi-detached dwellings (along with a medical facility) at Techier Village. This was almost in direct response to the unrest of 1937 which saw Tubal Uriah Buzz Butler strike the first blow for the labour movement in Fyzabad. A new clinic for senior staff was also built at Clifton Hill and exists as the present-day Point Fortin District Hospital. World War II saw immense importance being accorded to the refinery which provided much fuel to Allied forces fighting in Europe.
Because of the infrastructure implemented by the oil companies, Point Fortin residents of the 1940s and 1950s enjoyed many amenities not known in other regions of T&T. There was piped water on a 24/7 basis from reservoirs in Egypt Village, three cinemas (including a drive-in theatre), electricity (outside of POS and San Fernando, there would be no national electric grid until 1955), and even the innovation of piped gas. Until recently, most homes in the town had a permanent laid-on gas supply. In all, residents of Point Fortin enjoyed a much higher standard of living than what existed elsewhere. In the postwar era, many of the smaller oil companies that had operations in and around Point Fortin (Kern Trinidad Oilfields-KTO, Antilles Petroleum etc,) were beginning to wind up and more local capital invested.
UBOT became Shell Trinidad Ltd in 1956. In 1962 a new company, Trinmar, was formed to exploit offshore oil deposits in the Gulf of Paria. All these various entities were later amalgamated under state control as Petrotrin in 1993. A project to create employment with an Economic Free Zone saw the establishment of a Dunlop tire factory that was plagued with labour problems, as was its eventual, successor, Carlisle tires until they too were forced to close down. A major spurt in crime combined with economic decline (and the eventual closure of the refinery by Petrotrin) saw a rough patch for the town which had been accorded the status of borough in 1980.
The annual borough day celebrations have grown exponentially to almost rival Carnival as the foremost street party. In 1995 land reclamation began near the old refinery. This was to become Train 1 of a joint-venture to export Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). The first exports took place to the United States four years later. Atlantic LNG has eventually replaced Petrotrin as the largest energy company in the area. Point Fortin today is again in a state of prosperity as a result of this renewal in the energy sector which has seen billions of dollars being pumped into the people and infrastructure of the district.