by Bruce Wells | Aug 24, 2026 | This Week in Petroleum History
August 24, 1892 – “Prophet of Spindletop” founds Oil Exploration Company –
Patillo Higgins, who would become known as the “Prophet of Spindletop,” founded the Gladys City Oil, Gas & Manufacturing Company and leased 2,700 acres near Beaumont, Texas. Higgins believed oil-bearing sands could be found a few miles south of town. Most earth science experts said he was wrong.
A self-taught geologist, Higgins had noticed oil and natural gas seeps at Spindletop Hill while taking his Sunday school class on picnics. He later supervised the planning of Gladys City, which he named for his favorite student. (more…)
by Bruce Wells | Aug 17, 2026 | This Week in Petroleum History
August 17, 1785 – “Bituminous Matter” reported at Oil Creek –
Two years after the end of the Revolutionary War, oil was reported floating on a creek in northwestern Pennsylvania. “Oil Creek has taken its name from an oil or bituminous matter being found floating on its surface,” noted a report by Gen. William Irvine, adding, “Many cures are attributed to this oil by the natives, and lately by some of the whites, particularly rheumatic pains and old ulcers.” (more…)
by Bruce Wells | Aug 10, 2026 | This Week in Petroleum History
August 10, 1909 – Hughes patents Two-Cone Drill Bit –
“Fishtail” drill bits became obsolete after Howard Hughes Sr. of Houston, Texas, patented the dual-cone roller bit with two rotating cones. By pulverizing hard rock, his bit led to faster and deeper rotary drilling. A few months before receiving the 1909 drill patent, Hughes and Walter Sharp established the manufacturing company Sharp-Hughes Tool (see Carl Baker and Howard Hughes). (more…)
by Bruce Wells | Aug 3, 2026 | This Week in Petroleum History
August 3, 1769 – La Brea Asphalt Pits discovered –
A West Coast Spanish expedition discovered natural seeps that became known as La Brea (the tar). “We debated whether this substance, which flows melted from underneath the earth, could occasion so many earthquakes,” noted the expedition’s Franciscan friar in his diary. (more…)
by Bruce Wells | Jul 27, 2026 | This Week in Petroleum History
July 27, 1918 – Standard Oil of New York launches Concrete Tanker –
America’s first concrete vessel designed to carry oil, the Socony, left its shipyard at Flushing Bay, New York. Built for the Standard Oil Company of New York, the barge was 98 feet long with a 32-foot beam and carried oil in six center and two wing compartments, “oil-proofed by a special process,” according to the journal Cement and Engineering News. (more…)
by Bruce Wells | Jul 20, 2026 | This Week in Petroleum History
July 21, 1935 – “Diamond Glenn” McCarthy strikes Oil –
Glenn H. McCarthy struck oil 50 miles east of Houston in 1935, extending the already prolific Anahuac field. The well extended by three miles to the north of the already productive Anahuac field, which McCarthy had earlier discovered. The well was the first of many for the Texas independent producer who would discover 11 Texas oilfields by 1945. He was known as “Diamond Glenn” by 1950, when his estimated worth reached $200 million ($2.8 billion in 2026). (more…)
