A Chronology of U.S. Oil & Gas
This Week in Petroleum History
This Week in Petroleum History, January 12 – 18
January 12, 1904 - Henry Ford sets Speed Record - Seeking to prove his cars were built better than most, Henry Ford set a world land speed record on a frozen Michigan lake. At the time, the Ford Motor Company was struggling to get financial backing for its first car,...
This Week in Petroleum History, January 5 – 11
January 7, 1864 - Oilfield Discovery at Pithole Creek - The once-famous Pithole Creek oilfield discovered in Pennsylvania by a well drilled by the United States Petroleum Company -- reportedly located by using a witch-hazel dowser. The discovery well, which initially...
This Week in Petroleum History, December 29 – January 4
December 30, 1854 - First American Oil Company incorporates - George Bissell and six investors incorporated the Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company of New York. Convinced by natural seeps that oil could be produced in northwestern Pennsylvania, Bissell formed this first...
This Week in Petroleum History, December 22 – 28
December 22, 1875 – Grant paves Pennsylvania Avenue with Asphalt - President Ulysses S. Grant convinced Congress to repave Pennsylvania Avenue's badly deteriorated plank boards with asphalt. Grant delivered to Congress a "Report of the Commissioners Created by the Act...
This Week in Petroleum History, December 15 – 21
December 17, 1884 - Fighting Oilfield Fires with Cannons - “Oil fires, like battles, are fought by artillery,” proclaimed an article in The Tech, a student newspaper of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “A Thunder-Storm in the Oil Country” featured the...
This Week in Petroleum History, December 8 – 14
December 8, 1931 - Advanced Blowout Preventer patented - Improving upon the success of the Cameron Iron Works mechanically operated ram-type blowout preventer, James Abercrombie patented a "Fluid Pressure Operated Blow Out Preventer" designed to operate...
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)...
History of oil and Gas
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