A Chronology of U.S. Oil & Gas
This Week in Petroleum History
This Week in Petroleum History: September 16 – 22
September 16, 1908 - Carriage Maker incorporates General Motors - William Crapo "Billy" Durant, co-owner of America's largest manufacturer of horse-drawn carriages, founded General Motors Holding Company in Flint, Michigan. The Durant-Dort Carriage Company, which had...
This Week in Petroleum History: September 9 – 15
September 10, 1969 - Second Nuclear Fracturing Test - A 40-kiloton nuclear device was detonated about eight miles southeast of present-day Parachute, in Garfield County, Colorado. Project Rulison was the second of three natural-gas-reservoir stimulation tests that...
This Week in Petroleum History: September 2 – 8
September 2, 1910 - Cities Service Company incorporates - Henry Doherty organized the Cities Services Company as a public utility holding company in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Doherty bought producing properties in Kansas and Oklahoma as he acquired distributing...
This Week in Petroleum History, August 26 to September 1
August 26, 1926 – The Texas Company expands - After years of growth thanks to discoveries at Spindletop and Sour Lake, the Texas Corporation incorporated in Delaware, acquiring the outstanding stock of the Texas Company (Texas), which was dissolved by the next year....
This Week in Petroleum History: August 19 – 25
August 19, 1909 - Canadian Journal lampoons Standard Oil - "The Standard Oil Company has decided to drive the cow and the dairyman out of business," declared the Stanstead Journal of Quebec, reporting from Jersey City, New Jersey. "Its skilled chemists have...
This Week in Petroleum History: August 12 – 18
August 12, 1888 – Bertha Benz makes World’s First Auto Road Trip - Thirty-nine-year-old Bertha Benz made history when she became the first person to make a long-distance trip by automobile. Her adventure also included, “the first road repairs, the first automotive...
This Week in Petroleum History: August 5 – 11
August 5, 1882 - Rockefeller founds Standard Oil of New Jersey - Twelve years after launching Standard Oil Company of Ohio (bp America), John D. Rockefeller founded the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey (ExxonMobil) as a refining and marketing arm of the Standard...
This Week in Petroleum History: July 29 – August 4
July 29, 1918 - "World's Wonder Oil Pool" discovered in Texas Less than a year after the "Roaring Ranger" discovered an oilfield to the south, the Fowler No. 1 well at the cotton farming community of Burkburnett, Texas, revealed a new giant field at a depth of 1,734...
This Week in Petroleum History: July 22 – 28
July 22, 1933 - Phillips Petroleum sponsors Flight around the World - Before 50,000 cheering New York City onlookers, former roughneck Wiley Post landed his Lockheed 5C Vega “Winnie Mae,” becoming the first person to fly solo around the world. Post had worked in...
This Week in Petroleum History: July 15 – 21
July 16, 1907 - Drilling Pioneer patents Casing Shoe - After drilling wells in Kern River oilfields, R. Carlton "Carl" Baker (1872-1957) of Coalinga, California, patented the Baker well-casing shoe. His cable-tool innovation at the bottom of the casing string...
History of oil and Gas
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