A Chronology of U.S. Oil & Gas
This Week in Petroleum History
This Week in Petroleum History: June 30 – July 6
June 30, 1864 - Oil Tax funds Civil War - The federal government taxed oil for the first time when it levied a $1 per barrel tax on production from Pennsylvania oilfields. Desperate for revenue to fund the Civil War as early as 1862, Treasury Secretary Salmon Chase...
This Week in Petroleum History: June 23 – 29
June 23, 1921 - Signal Hill brings California Oil Boom - Another southern California drilling boom began when a geyser of "black gold" erupted 114 feet high at Signal Hill. The Alamitos No. 1 well, which revealed a giant oilfield, produced about 600 barrels of oil a...
This Week in Petroleum History: June 16 – 22
June 16, 1903 - Ford Motor Company Incorporated - After successfully testing his gasoline-powered Quadricycle in 1896, Henry Ford and a group of investors (including machinist John Dodge) filed articles of association for the Ford Motor Company. Ford's contributions...
This Week in Petroleum History: June 9 – 15
June 9, 1894 - Water Well finds Oil in Corsicana, Texas - A contractor hired by the town of Corsicana to drill a water well on 12th Street found oil instead, launching the Texas petroleum industry seven years before the more famous Spindletop Hill gusher hundreds of...
This Week in Petroleum History: June 2 – 8
June 2, 1908 - Goose Creek Oilfield discovered - Drilled on Galveston Bay wetlands, the first offshore well in Texas revealed a giant oilfield 20 miles southeast of Houston, according to the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). Inspired by reports of bubbles on...
This Week in Petroleum History: May 26 – June 1
May 26, 1891 - Carbon Black Patent leads to Crayola - Edwin Binney and C. Harold Smith received a patent for an “Apparatus for the Manufacture of Carbon Black." The Binney & Smith process created a fine, intensely black soot-like substance -- a pigment blacker...
This Week in Petroleum History: May 19 – 25
May 19, 1885 - Lima Oilfield discovered in Ohio - Ohio's petroleum industry began when Benjamin Faurot found oil at Lima in the northwestern part of the state. He had been searching for natural gas in the prolific Trenton Rock Limestone (see Indiana Natural Gas Boom)....
This Week in Petroleum History: May 12 – 18
May 12, 2007 - Oil Museums open in Oklahoma - ConocoPhillips opened two petroleum museums as part of the 2007 Oklahoma statehood centennial celebrations (see ConocoPhillips Petroleum Museums). The company reportedly spent $10 million on state-of-the-art museums in...
This Week in Petroleum History: May 5 – 11
May 5, 1889 - Construction begins on Giant Refinery - On the southern shore of Lake Michigan near Chicago, Standard Oil Company of New Jersey began construction of its 235-acre refinery complex with advanced processing technologies. A newly patented refining method...
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...
History of oil and Gas
Subscribe for Updates
Stay up to date with our latest articles about petroleum history and modern energy education programs by receiving our monthly email newsletter, "Oil & Gas History News."