A Chronology of U.S. Oil & Gas
This Week in Petroleum History
This Week in Petroleum History: April 28 – May 4
April 29, 1942 - Tanker SS Mobiloil torpedoed in Atlantic - A German U-boat torpedoed the unescorted steam tanker SS Mobiloil (spelled in some reports as Mobil Oil) in the Atlantic northeast of the Bahamas. During multiple torpedo attacks, U-108 surfaced and shelled...
This Week in Petroleum History: April 21 – 27
April 21, 1967 - GM celebrates its 100 Millionth Car - General Motors celebrated its 100 millionth American-made car (a two-door Chevrolet Caprice). Founded in 1908 by William Durant, the Flint, Michigan, company began as a manufacturer of horse-drawn carriages. After...
This Week in Petroleum History: April 14 – 20
April 14, 1865 - Failed Oilman turns Assassin - After failing to make his fortune in Pennsylvania oilfields, John Wilkes Booth assassinated President Abraham Lincoln in Washington, D.C. Booth had left his acting career a year earlier to drill an oil well in booming...
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...
History of oil and Gas
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