by Bruce Wells | Oct 2, 2026 | Petroleum Technology
Offshore oil and natural gas platforms have proven useful after retirement. Hundreds of former platforms serve as aquatic habitats. A jack-up rig in Galveston, Texas, is an offshore museum. There’s a historic mobile rig in Morgan City, Louisiana, that in 2024 was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Another mobile platform launched satellites from 1999 to 2014. (more…)
by Bruce Wells | Sep 15, 2026 | Petroleum Technology
World War II anti-tank weapon improved technologies for perforating well casing.
Swiss inventor Henry H. Mohaupt used his experience from creating a World War II anti-tank weapon to develop a new technology for improving production of oil and natural gas wells. To penetrate well casing, he adapted conically hollowed-out explosive charges to focus each detonation’s energy.
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by Bruce Wells | Aug 26, 2026 | Petroleum Technology
America’s first unsuccessful well drilled for oil achieved many petroleum industry “firsts.”
Modern oil and natural gas exploration and production technologies began with 19th-century wells drilled in northwestern Pennsylvania. Just four days after America’s first commercial oil well, a second attempt nearby resulted in the first “dry hole” for the new U.S. petroleum industry.
Edwin L. Drake drilled the first U.S. oil well specifically seeking oil on August 27, 1859, at Titusville, Pennsylvania. His historic feat included inventing the method of driving a pipe downhole to protect the integrity of the wellbore. The former railroad conductor borrowed a kitchen water pump to produce the first barrel of oil.
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by Bruce Wells | Aug 5, 2026 | Petroleum Technology
The science behind petroleum exploration and production — and finding oil and natural gas at greater depths.
“A good cable-tool man is just about the most highly skilled worker you’ll find,” one veteran of the oil patch noted. “Besides having a feel for the job, knowing what’s going on thousands of feet under the ground just from the movement of the cable, he’s got to be something of a carpenter, a steam-fitter, an electrician, and a damned good mechanic.” – A 1939 interview in Voices from the Oil Fields by Paul Lambert and Kenny Franks.
Petroleum exploration technologies have evolved from ancient “spring poles” to steam-powered percussion cable tools, to modern rotary rigs with steerable, diamond bits that can drill miles deep. (more…)
by Bruce Wells | Jul 30, 2026 | Petroleum Technology
Scientists experiment with reflection seismography in 1921.
Exploring seismic waves is all about the vital earth science technology — reflection seismography — which revolutionized petroleum exploration in the 1920s. Seismic waves have led to oilfield discoveries worldwide and billions of barrels of oil.
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by Bruce Wells | Jul 1, 2026 | Petroleum Technology
Industry executives in 1968 recognized the public relations value of LNG fueling a land speed record.
Proclaiming natural gas “the fuel of the future,” the American Gas Association sponsored a sleek rocket car powered by liquified natural gas (LNG) that in October 1970 set a world land speed record that would remain unbroken for more than a decade.
In 1882, Mrs. Karl Benz secretly took her husband’s “Model III Patent Motorwagen” on a 65-mile road trip at an average speed of four mph. The public relations stunt took 15 hours. (more…)
