Island Freeman is one of four artificial islands constructed to house oil wells and drilling equipment to access the Wilmington Oil Field which underlies Long Beach, and its area offshore. Like the others, the island has a ring of 250 to 300 oil wells, serviced by the rig tower that moves on a track above them, and was named after an astronaut killed in the line of duty. These islands are owned by the Thums Long Beach Company. They were built in 1964, by a group made up of Texaco, Humble Oil, Union, Mobil, and Shell: THUMS. Thums is now owned by Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum. Island Freeman is the furthest offshore, and is rectangular, unlike the others.