This Week in Petroleum History: September 14 – 20

by | Sep 14, 2026 | This Week in Petroleum History

September 14, 1871 – President Grant visits Pennsylvania Oil Regions – 

President Ulysses S. Grant and his family arrived at Titusville, Pennsylvania, on a special train. The 18th president thanked residents for the reception and noted it was his first visit to the oil regions, adding, “I am aware that this section of the country furnished its full share of men and means for suppression of the rebellion, and your efforts in the discovery and production of petroleum aided materially in supplying the sinews of war, as a medium of foreign exchange, taking the place of cotton.” (more…)

First Alaska Oil Wells

by | Jul 11, 2026 | Petroleum Pioneers

Petroleum production began in 1902 near coastal oil seeps, but the real boom arrived in 1957.

 

Alaska’s petroleum history began long before statehood in 1959 and the major oilfield discovery two years earlier.  

The first Alaskan oil well with commercial production was completed in 1902 in rugged, coastal territory where oil seeps had been known for years. (more…)

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