A Chronology of U.S. Oil & Gas
This Week in Petroleum History
This Week in Petroleum History, December 1 – 7
December 1, 1865 - Lady Macbeth arrives in Famed Boom Town - Shakespearean tragedienne Miss Eloise Bridges starred as Lady Macbeth in Pithole, Pennsylvania -- America's first famously notorious oil boom town. A January 1865 oilfield discovery had launched the...
This Week in Petroleum History, November 24 – 30
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 17 – 23
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 10 – 16
November 10, 1854 - Oil Seeps inspire First American Oil Well - America's petroleum industry began when a lumber company sold 105 acres along a northwestern Pennsylvania creek known for having natural oil seeps. New Hampshire entrepreneur George Bissell (1821-1884)...
This Week in Petroleum History, November 3 – 9
November 3, 1878 - Natural Gas is King in Pittsburgh - While drilling for oil in 1878, a well drilled by Michael and Obediah Haymaker erupted with natural gas from a depth of almost 1,400 feet. "Every piece of rigging went sky high, whirling around like so much paper...
This Week in Petroleum History, October 27 – November 2
October 27, 1763 - Birth of Pioneer American Geologist - William Maclure, who would become a renowned American geologist and "stratigrapher," was born in Ayr, Scotland. He created the earliest geological maps of North America in 1809 and later earned the title "Father...
This Week in Petroleum History, October 20 – 26
October 20, 1924 - First Tubular Goods Standards - Shortages of equipment and drilling delays during World War I revealed the petroleum industry's struggle with a lack of uniformity of pipe sizes, threads, and couplings. Founded in 1919, the American Petroleum...
This Week in Petroleum History, October 13 – 19
October 13, 1917 - U.S. Oil & Gas Association founded - Oklahoma independent producers established the Mid-Continent Oil & Gas Association in Tulsa, Oklahoma, six months after the United States entered World War I. The organization, today the United States Oil...
This Week in Petroleum History: October 6 – 12
October 6, 1886 - Natural Gas fuels Glass Manufacturing - A 900-foot-deep natural gas well in a cornfield near Kokomo, Indiana, led to the establishment of the Indiana Natural Gas Company, and in 1888, the Opalescent Glass Works, which has been in continuous operation...
This Week in Petroleum History: September 29 – October 5
September 30, 2006 - Roughnecks Statue dedicated at Signal Hill - A bronze Tribute to the Roughnecks statue was dedicated near the Alamitos No. 1 well, which in 1921 revealed California's prolific Long Beach oilfield 20 miles south of Los Angeles. The statue by Cindy...
History of oil and Gas
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