A Chronology of U.S. Oil & Gas
This Week in Petroleum History
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...
This Week in Petroleum History: September 30 – October 6
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...
This Week in Petroleum History: September 23 – 29
September 23, 1918 - Wood River Refinery goes Online - The Roxana Petroleum Company Wood River (Illinois) facility began refining crude oil -- processing more than two million barrels of oil from Oklahoma oilfields in its first year of operation. Roxana Petroleum was...
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...
History of oil and Gas
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