A Chronology of U.S. Oil & Gas
This Week in Petroleum History
This Week in Petroleum History: April 7 – 13
April 7, 1902 - Spindletop Boom brings The Texas Company - Joseph "Buckskin Joe" Cullinan and Arnold Schlaet established The Texas Company in Beaumont to transport and refine oil from Spindletop Hill, a giant oilfield discovered in January 1901. The new company...
This Week in Petroleum History: March 31 – April 6
March 31, 1919 - Oklahoma's Other First Oil Well - The Cherokee-Warren Oil and Gas Company incorporated -- taking over the remaining assets of the exploration venture that drilled Oklahoma's "other first oil well" in Indian Territory. That well, drilled in 1889 but...
This Week in Petroleum History: March 24 – 30
March 24, 1989 - Exxon Valdez hits Bligh Reef - After almost 12 years of routine passages by oil tankers through Prince William Sound, Alaska, supertanker Exxon Valdez ran aground on Bligh Reef, resulting in an oil spill affecting 1,300 miles of shoreline. Vessels...
This Week in Petroleum History: March 17 – 23
March 17, 1890 - Sun Oil Company founded - Established in 1886 by Joseph Pew and Edward Emerson to provide light and heat to Pittsburgh, the Peoples Natural Gas Company expanded into production, becoming the Sun Oil Company of Ohio. The new company acquired leases...
This Week in Petroleum History: March 10 – 16
March 11, 1829 - Kentucky Salt Well Driller discovers Oil - Boring for brine with a simple spring-pole method on a farm near Burkesville, Kentucky, Martin Beatty found oil at a depth of 171 feet. Disappointed, he searched elsewhere. Beatty drilled brine wells to meet...
This Week in Petroleum History: March 3 – 9
March 3, 1879 - United States Geological Survey established - President Rutherford B. Hayes signed legislation creating the United States Geological Survey (USGS) within the Department of the Interior. The legislation resulted from a report by the National Academy of...
This Week in Petroleum History, Feb. 24 – March 2
February 24, 1938 - First Nylon Bristle Toothbrush - The Weco Products Company of Chicago, Illinois, “Dr. West’s Miracle-Tuft” toothbrush went on sale – the first to use synthetic nylon developed three years earlier by a former Harvard professor working at a DuPont...
This Week in Petroleum History, February 17 – 23
February 17, 1902 - Lufkin Industries founded in East Texas - The Lufkin Foundry and Machine Company was founded in Lufkin, Texas, as a repair shop for railroad and sawmill machinery. When the pine region's timber supplies began to dwindle, the company discovered new...
This Week in Petroleum History, February 10 – 16
February 10, 1910 - Giant Oilfield discovered in California - Honolulu Oil Corporation discovered the Buena Vista oilfield in Kern County, California. The well, originally known as "Honolulu's Great Gasser," drilled deep into oil-producing sands for production of...
This Week in Petroleum History, February 3 – 9
February 3, 1868 - Refiners seek End Civil to War Tax - Angry refiners from Oil Creek, Pennsylvania, met in Petroleum Center and passed a resolution demanding an end to then U.S. "war tax" of one dollar per 42-gallon barrel of refined petroleum products, including...
History of oil and Gas
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