A Chronology of U.S. Oil & Gas
This Week in Petroleum History
This Week in Petroleum History, December 9 – 15
December 9, 1921 – Scientists discover Anti-Knock Properties of Leaded Gas - Working for General Motors, scientists Thomas Midgely Jr. and Charles Kettering discovered the antiknock properties of tetraethyl lead. They had spent years examining properties of knock...
This Week in Petroleum History, December 2 – 8
December 2, 1942 - Roosevelt creates Petroleum Administration for War - President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Petroleum Administration for War, "for the successful prosecution of the war and other essential purposes." The executive order came after oil and...
This Week in Petroleum History, November 25 to December 1
November 25, 1875 - Continental Oil sends Kerosene Westward - Convinced he could profit by purchasing bulk kerosene in cheaper eastern markets, Isaac Blake formed the Continental Oil and Transportation Company and began transporting kerosene refined in Cleveland,...
This Week in Petroleum History, November 18 – 24
November 18, 1847 -- Manufactured Gas illuminates U.S. Capitol - Lamps fueled by "coal gas" began replacing whale oil lamps in the U.S. Capitol. Manufactured gas distilled beneath the Capitol flowed through newly installed pipes into light fixtures, including...
This Week in Petroleum History, November 11 – 17
November 11, 1884 - Gas Companies merge into Con Edison - The largest U.S. gas utility company at the time was created in New York City when six gas-light companies -- using manufactured coal gas -- combined to form the Consolidated Gas Company. The Consolidated...
This Week in Petroleum History, November 4 – 10
November 6, 1860 - First Multi-Still Oil Refinery started in Pennsylvania - As the Civil War neared, construction began on America's first multiple-still oil refinery. William Barnsdall, who completed a oil well soon after the first U.S. oil well of August 1859, spent...
This Week in Petroleum History, October 28 – November 3
October 28, 1868 - Newspaper praises Explosive Technology - The Titusville Morning Herald praised the results of an explosive oilfield production technology -- Civil War veteran Colonel E.A.L. Roberts' patented nitroglycerin torpedo. "It would be superfluous, at this...
This Week in Petroleum History, October 21 – 27
October 21, 1921 - First Natural Gas Well in New Mexico - The New Mexico natural gas industry began when the newly established Aztec Oil Syndicate's State No. 1 well found a gas field about 15 miles northeast of Farmington in San Juan County. The drilling crew used a...
This Week in Petroleum History, October 14 – 20
October 14, 1929 - Van Oilfield Discovery East of Dallas - Pure Oil Company completed its Jarman No. 1 well in Van Zandt County and launched a drilling boom 60 miles east of Dallas. During its first hour, the oilfield discovery well produced 147 barrels of oil from...
This Week in Petroleum History: October 7 – 13
October 7, 1859 - First U.S. Oil Well catches Fire - The wooden derrick and engine house of America's first oil well erupted in flames along Oil Creek at Titusville, Pennsylvania. The well had been completed the previous August by Edwin L. Drake for George Bissell and...
History of oil and Gas
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