Your source for energy education. Petroleum history offers a context

for teaching the modern business of meeting America's energy needs.

Oil and Natural Gas History, Education Resources, Museum News, Exhibits and Events

THIS MONTH IN PETROLEUM HISTORY

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This Week in Petroleum History, May 20 – May 26

The Society of Exploration Geophysicists organizes in May 1930. “Doodlebuggers” – geophysical crews in the field – will become part of the society’s heritage honored by a bronze statue at SEG headquarters. Read More

This Week in Petroleum History, May 13 – May 19

The original Golden Driller debuts in 1953 at the International Petroleum Expo in Tulsa. The giant, rebuilt in 1966, is the most photographed landmark in a city once known as “oil capital of the world.” Read More

This Week in Petroleum History, May 6 – May 12

Confederate cavalry raids “Burning Springs” in what soon becomes West Virginia. They destroy drilling equipment and thousands of barrels of oil, “making it the first of many oilfields destroyed in war.” Read More

The Week in Petroleum History, April 29 – May 5

The future of offshore petroleum technology is predicted by an 1869 patent by Thomas Rowland of New York. His “submarine drilling apparatus” design is remarkably similar to the offshore platforms of decades later. Read More

TAKE AN "OIL PATCH" TOUR

JOIN THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS HISTORICAL SOCIETY

  • Texas Energy Museum, Beaumont, Texas

  • The OPEC oil embargo began in October 1973

  • Phillips Petroleum Company Museum

  • Sinclair Dinosaurs on way to NY World's Fair

  • Discovery well on Main Street, Healdton, OK

  • Record-setting airplane at Woolaroc Museum

  • The Oklahoma City Oilfield, circa 1930s

  • Van, Texas, oilfield, was discovered in 1929

  • The Oil and Gas Museum, Parkersburg, WV

  • Display from Pennsylvania's historic oil region

  • Scene from 2008 Energy Education Conference

  • Special day at Kansas Oil Museum in El Dorado

  • Society members on Tulsa Field Trip in 2007

  • Derrick at the Drake Well Museum, Titusville, PA

  • The Ocean Star Offshore Drilling Rig and Museum

  • Energy Park at the Oklahoma History Center

  • The Pioneer Oil Museum in Bolivar, NY

  • The Ken Miller Supply Museum, Shreve, Ohio

  • Holiday derricks stored in Kilgore, Texas

  • Central Texas Oil Patch Museum, Luling

Petroleum exploration and production is a neglected history.

 These articles about the heritage of America’s oil and natural gas industry offer a context for teaching the modern energy business.

 

Petroleum history news & EVENTS

Seuss I am, an Oilman

About 30 years before the Grinch stole Christmas, Dr. Seuss’s strange critters worked for Standard Oil of New Jersey. Ted Geisel will later say his experience working for Standard Oil “taught me conciseness and how to marry pictures with words.” Read More

Technology and the “Conroe Crater”

“Slanted oil wells are the latest sensation of the oil industry,” begins the May 1934 Popular Science Monthly article. “Drilled by experts who use special tools and secret methods to send the bit burrowing into the ground at strange angles, they are finding amazing new applications.” Read More

Mobil’s High-Flying Trademark

A neon reminder of its petroleum heritage rotates high above Dallas. Preserved atop a former oil company headquarters building, now a luxury hotel, rotates a neon sign with Mobil Oil Company’s Pegasus trademark.
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The Blue Flame – Natural Gas Rocket Car

Throughout the 20th century, land speed records are set with vehicles powered by steam, electricity, and all manner of petroleum distillates. On October 23, 1970, natural gas makes a spectacular debut – and powers the Blue Flame into the land-speed record books. Read More

ENERGY EDUCATION RESOURCES