Oil Industry History

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In the late 18th and into the 19th centuries, oil was available in seeps and small pools or in springs where the water carried small quantities of oil from underground reservoirs. Native Americans used it for medicinal purposes. In Titusville, Pennsylvania white traders would gather small quantities and bottle and sell it as a cure for all mankind's ills. Often used as a liniment (balm), perhaps some of the remedy claims were accurate since refined products produced from oil are used extensively today to treat many skin ailments including psoriasis.

The first well was started on the 1st of July 1859 by Colonel Drake near Titusville, Pa. He struck oil 29 days later. Initially he was laughed at for suggesting drilling for the oil, but when news broke of the success of his find, a oil rush ensued. Like the gold rush a decade before, oil would make poor men rich. Where many a shovel maker got rich in the gold rush, barrel makers made a killing from the new oil industry. While Colonel Drake made a considerable fortune from his oil business, like so many of the early pioneers he quickly lost it all. He would have ended his days in complete poverty had it not been for the generosity of Pennsylvania which granted him a pension in recognition of the great benefits his work had brought to the state.

Since those days, the U.S. industry has grown to be a global leader, supplying equipment, expertise and personnel around the world.

As the demand for oil continued to rise so new wells were sought. Each new location presented different challenges. Sometimes because of the rock types encountered and often because of the terrain. The discovery of oil under the sea presented some of the hardest obstacles. The Gulf of Mexico saw the first open water offshore wells and a massive new industry, requiring new techniques and equipment.