This Week in Petroleum History, August 28 to Sept. 3
August 30, 1919 – Natural Gas Boom (and Bust) in Pennsylvania –
The “Snake Hollow Gusher” of McKeesport, Pennsylvania, revealed a natural gas field that soon attracted hundreds of exploration companies. Drilled near the Monongahela River southeast of Pittsburgh, the discovery well produced 60 million cubic feet of gas a day. The drilling frenzy it inspired resulted in $35 million invested in a nine-square-mile area.
“McKeesport, Snake Hollow, Gas Belt” from a circa 1920 panoramic image by Hagerty & Griffey. Photo courtesy Library of Congress.
“Many residents signed leases for drilling on their land,” the local newspaper reported. “They bought and sold gas company stock on street corners and in barbershops transformed into brokerage houses.”
The excitement ended in early 1921 when gas production declined in 180 wells and more than 440 exploratory wells found no gas. The field was later described as “the scene of the Pittsburgh district’s biggest boom and loudest crash.”
Learn more in McKeesport Gas Company.
August 30, 2002 – Conoco and Phillips Petroleum become ConocoPhillips
Almost 100 years after Frank and L.E. Phillips completed their first oil well and 128 years after Continental Oil delivered its first can of kerosene in a horse-drawn wagon, Phillips Petroleum and Conoco combined to form ConocoPhillips. (more…)
