A Chronology of U.S. Oil & Gas
This Week in Petroleum History
This Week in Petroleum History, October 27 – November 2
October 27, 1763 - Birth of Pioneer American Geologist - William Maclure, who would become a renowned American geologist and "stratigrapher," was born in Ayr, Scotland. He created the earliest geological maps of North America in 1809 and later earned the title "Father...
This Week in Petroleum History, October 20 – 26
October 20, 1924 - First Tubular Goods Standards - Shortages of equipment and drilling delays during World War I revealed the petroleum industry's struggle with a lack of uniformity of pipe sizes, threads, and couplings. Founded in 1919, the American Petroleum...
This Week in Petroleum History, October 13 – 19
October 13, 1917 - U.S. Oil & Gas Association founded - Oklahoma independent producers established the Mid-Continent Oil & Gas Association in Tulsa, Oklahoma, six months after the United States entered World War I. The organization, today the United States Oil...
This Week in Petroleum History: October 6 – 12
October 6, 1886 - Natural Gas fuels Glass Manufacturing - A 900-foot-deep natural gas well in a cornfield near Kokomo, Indiana, led to the establishment of the Indiana Natural Gas Company, and in 1888, the Opalescent Glass Works, which has been in continuous operation...
This Week in Petroleum History: September 29 – October 5
September 30, 2006 - Roughnecks Statue dedicated at Signal Hill - A bronze Tribute to the Roughnecks statue was dedicated near the Alamitos No. 1 well, which in 1921 revealed California's prolific Long Beach oilfield 20 miles south of Los Angeles. The statue by Cindy...
This Week in Petroleum History: September 22 – 28
September 22, 1955 - End of Signal Oil "The Whistler” Radio Show - Sponsored since 1942 by the largest independent oil company on the West Coast, the last episode of the radio drama "The Whistler" aired on CBS Radio. Signal Oil Company was established in 1921 by...
This Week in Petroleum History: September 15 – 21
September 15, 1886 - Trenton Field brings Indiana Gas Boom - The Eaton Mining & Gas Company, recently established by George W. Carter and a group of investors, discovered a giant natural gas field near Portland, Indiana, at a depth of 922 feet. They had been...
This Week in Petroleum History: September 8 – 14
September 8, 1891- Patent issued for "Flexible Driving Shafts" - The modern concept of horizontal drilling may have begun with 19th-century patents by John Smalley Campbell of London. After receiving a British patent for his "useful improvements in flexible driving...
This Week in Petroleum History: September 1 – 7
September 1, 1862 - Union taxes Manufactured Gas - A new federal tax of up to 15 cents per thousand cubic feet was placed on manufactured gas to help fund the Civil War. Often processed from coal and stored in large gasometers, "town gas" had become popular for...
This Week in Petroleum History, August 25 – 31
August 26, 1926 – The Texas Company expands - After years of growth thanks to discoveries at Spindletop and Sour Lake, the Texas Corporation was incorporated, acquiring all of the outstanding stock of the Texas Company, which was dissolved the next year. Moving its...
History of oil and Gas
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