Abstract:
A summary of some of the key events impacting the evolution of the world petroleum industry, significant world events that had a major impact on the oil industry are indicated below
450BC - Herodotus described oil pits near Babylon
325BC - Alexander the Great used flaming torches of petroleum products to scare his enemies
c100AD - Plutarch described oil bubbling from the ground near Kirkuk in present day Iraq
347AD - Chinese reported to have drilled holes in ground using bamboo to extract oil
1264 - Marco Polo recorded visiting the Persian city of Baku, on the shores of the Caspian Sea in modern Azerbaijan, he saw oil being collected from seeps for use in medicine and lighting..
1500s - Oil from seeps in the Carpathian Mountains in Poland was burned in street lamps to provide light in the Polish town of Krosno.
First coal powered steam engine was introduced in 1801.In 1807 Streets of London lit by coal oil. One of the first wells that produced oil which was marketed was drilled near Marietta, Ohio, in 1814. Well was actually drilled for salt water, the oil was a useless by-product which often spoiled the well. This Ohio well was almost 500 feet deep and produced about a barrel or so of oil per week, which was worth about 50 - 75 cents/gallon. In southeastern Kentucky another salt well produced oil. It was known as the "Beatty Well," named after the owner of the land on which it was drilled. The site is on the banks of the South Fork of the Cumberland River, and the well produced upwards of 100 barrels/day according to some reports. By 1820, oil from this well was being shipped to Europe as well as several other southern states. Thus the Beatty Well seems to be the first drilled well which produced commercial oil in North America. 1816 Start of the US manufactured gas industry - the Gas Light Company of Baltimore. 1821 First commercial natural gas production and use in Fredonia, New York - well drilled to 27' and gas piped through hollow logs to adjacent houses. 1849 Abraham Gesner developed a method for distilling kerosene from crude oil
