A Chronology of U.S. Oil & Gas
This Week in Petroleum History
This Week in Petroleum History: Aug. 31 – Sept. 6
August 31, 1850 - San Francisco Utility manufactures Gas from Coal - The San Francisco Gas Company was incorporated in 1850 to produce and distribute manufactured gas extracted from coal. Irish immigrants Peter and James Donahue and engineer Joseph Eastland erected a...
This Week in Petroleum History, August 24 – 30
August 24, 1892 - "Prophet of Spindletop" founds Oil Exploration Company - Patillo Higgins, who would become known as the "Prophet of Spindletop," founded the Gladys City Oil, Gas & Manufacturing Company and leased 2,700 acres near Beaumont, Texas. Higgins...
This Week in Petroleum History: August 17 – 23
August 17, 1785 – "Bituminous Matter" reported at Oil Creek - Two years after the end of the Revolutionary War, oil was reported floating on a creek in northwestern Pennsylvania. "Oil Creek has taken its name from an oil or bituminous matter being found floating on...
This Week in Petroleum History: August 10 – 16
August 10, 1909 – Hughes patents Two-Cone Drill Bit - “Fishtail” drill bits became obsolete after Howard Hughes Sr. of Houston, Texas, patented the dual-cone roller bit with two rotating cones. By pulverizing hard rock, his bit led to faster and deeper rotary...
This Week in Petroleum History: August 3 – 9
August 3, 1769 - La Brea Asphalt Pits discovered - A West Coast Spanish expedition discovered natural seeps that became known as La Brea (the tar). "We debated whether this substance, which flows melted from underneath the earth, could occasion so many earthquakes,"...
This Week in Petroleum History: July 27 – August 2
July 27, 1918 - Standard Oil of New York launches Concrete Tanker - America's first concrete vessel designed to carry oil, the Socony, left its shipyard at Flushing Bay, New York. Built for the Standard Oil Company of New York, the barge was 98 feet long with a...
This Week in Petroleum History: July 20 – 26
July 21, 1935 - "Diamond Glenn" McCarthy strikes Oil - Glenn H. McCarthy struck oil 50 miles east of Houston in 1935, extending the already prolific Anahuac field. The well extended by three miles to the north of the already productive Anahuac field, which McCarthy...
This Week in Petroleum History: July 13 – 19
July 14, 1863 - Patent issued for "Tool for Boring Rock" - French tunnel engineer Rodolphe Leschot received a U.S. patent for a "Tool for Boring Rock." His concept included a ring of industrial-grade diamonds on the end of a tubular drill rod designed to cut a...
This Week in Petroleum History: July 6 – 12
July 6, 1988 - Piper Alpha North Sea Tragedy - An explosion and fire on Occidental Petroleum's Piper Alpha offshore production platform in the North Sea resulted in the deaths of 167 out of 224 personnel. It remains the most deadly offshore disaster in petroleum...
This Week in Petroleum History: June 29 – July 5
June 29, 1956 - Interstate Highway System enacted - The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, also known as the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act, became law. Passed at the urging of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, the act provided 90 percent federal funding for...
History of oil and Gas
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