While whale oil was very wanted for lighting lamps and so forth, people were still using petroleum in different things without any knowledge about it, until 19th century when they started understanding and knowing well what lately became known as petroleum (crude oil).Though crude oil has really been being used in everyday life, whales lost their lives giving oil to people. Oil has been very important in many very ancient and great civilization of the world.According to Herodotus, more than thousands ago asphalts has been being used in construction of walls and towers of Babylon indeed some tremendous quantities are found near there , the fact that highlights that there had early been a source. There were pits near Ardericca and pitch spring on Zynthus. But also petroleum was known to be used in medicine for upper levels of some great civilization of the epoch as found in the chronology summarized below to show some petroleum important events (www.Geohelp.net).Until to the end of 21st century, western world was known of killing whales to produce oil which was very important due to its versatility. The whales blubbers used to be heated to fetch oil to light lamps or to be used in other things. Petroleum was also having similar role, but less known and less needed by people than whale oil was. As also it is seen in the chronology bellow, petroleum which appears in various forms could be used to light street lamps in some important towns or being used in medicine. The way they found it was easy and random. They could find oil as seeping liquids or discovering it while digging wells to fetch drinking water. The increased knowledge about oil use and exploration was mostly caused by the scarcity of whale oil and increased oil demand that was lately caused by the Industrial Revolution, thereby lives of survived whales in western world became saved from hunters.
- History of the World Petroleum Industry :Important DatesHere is a chronological summary of some of the important events impacting the evolution of the world petroleum industry with some key world events that had mainly impacted the oil industry.
Chronology Summary:
6th Century BC – The army of Kir II, first shah of Achaemenid Empire ( present – Iran), used Absheron oil in weapons of fire to invade castles and cities. (Note: much of the historic information relating to the early history in the Middle East has been provided by Mir-Yusif Mir-Babayev, Professor of Azerbaijan Technical University in Baku ).
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
8th Century AD – Baku people used ground impregnated with oil for heating because of absence of wood
9th Century AD – Arabian traveler Baladzori (Al-Belazuri Ahmed) describes in “The Conquest of the countries” that political and economic life on Absheron had been long connected with oil. (Published in English “The origins of the Islamic state”, by P.K. Hitti and F.C. Murgotten, v.1-2, N.Y.-L., 1916-1924).
10th Century AD – Arabian traveler Abu-Dulaf visits and describes Absheron’s oil sources; and noted that there were two major sources – black and white oil. White oil was exported to Iran, Iraq and India as a valuble article.
12th Century AD – A unique medicinal oil from the Naftalan (Azerbaijan region), was used for curing various health problems. It was carried in wineskins through the territory of modern Georgia to the Black Sea shores and from there to other countries of the world.
1273 – 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.
1568 – Under the direction of Englishmen Thomas Bannister and Jeffrey Duckett, Moscow Company agents visited Azerbaijan and wrote about Baku oil (the Moscow Company was founded in London in 1555).
1594 – A stone dated 1594 and signed by Allahyar Mahammad Nurogly is found in an oil well (kolodets) 35 metres deep in Baku (in settlement Balakhani); this well is dug by hand.
1618 – Itallian traveller Pietro Della Valle spoke about great amounts of black oil around Baku; it was cheap and brought lots of income to the shah every year.
1637 – Baku oil is marked as a ‘terrible weapon by ignition’ in a “List of gun stocks’ of Moscow state.
1647 – Turkish traveller Evliya Chelebi examines and thoroughly describes Baku oil fields while in Baku. According to his data, Baku oil brought 7000 tumans of annual income to Shah’s treasury and was exported to Persia, Central Asia, Turkey and India.
1666 – Dutch sailor and traveller Jan Struys (he was taken prisoner in Iran and used to visit this place often with the merchant who owned him – he even drew the Caspian sea map) visited Azerbaijan and wrote in his work called “Journey” that there were wells built with stones inside and with white and black oil coming to the surface on Besh Barmag mountain (now – in Siazan region of Azerbaijan).
1723 – Peter the Great (1672-1725) issues special decrees about the order of oil extraction; in a letter to major-general Michael Matyushkin, who governed Baku, he demanded sending “one thousand poods of white oil or as much as possible, and to look for increase in production”. Persian campaign (1722-1723) of Peter I resulted in Baku and Derbent (on the East coast of Caspian) being annexed to Russia.
1739 – Academician I.V. Veytbreht publishes the treatise “About the oil”, which contains much data about Absheron oil.
1741 – Director of English-Russian trading company Ioannas Hanway investigated condition of Baku oilfields. In 1754 he published “Historical essay about English trade in Caspian Sea” in London.
1771 – Academician Samuil Gmelin (1745-1774) visits Baku and confirms that white oil was sublimated for production of kerosene in Surakhani and describes the technique of well’s oil production.
1781 – Count Marko Voynovich (1750-1807), the chief of the Caspian expedition, finds the signs of oil and gas on the bottom of the Caspian Sea near the island Zhiloy (Chilov), near the Absheron peninsula. In 1781-1782 Voynovich M.I. charted a detailed map of Eastern part of the Caspian Sea.
1796 – Marshal von Frederick Bibershtein (1768-1826) notes that “the Absheron peninsula contains an inexhaustible stock of oil”.
1836 – For the first time, academician G.I. Gessi researched Absheron natural associated gas from a scientific point of view and defined its composition.
- 1801 – First coal powered steam engine1803 – Offshore oil extraction reported in Bibi-Heybat Bay of the Caspian Sea (Azerbaijan) from two hand-dug wells 18 and 30 meters away from the shoreline. The first offshore oil field ceased existence in 1825 when a huge storm ravaged all wells in the Caspian.
1807 – Streets of London lit by coal oil.
1814 – One of the first wells that produced oil which was marketed was drilled near Marietta, Ohio, in 1814 (Hildreth 1833, p. 64). 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.
1818 – 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 (Shepherd 1988). 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
1825 – First commercial natural gas production and use in Fredonia, New York – well drilled to7′ by William Aaron Hart, gas piped through hollow logs to adjacent houses.
1837 – Autun, France – first attempts to mine oil shale, mines were closed in 1957
1846 – Baku the first ever well drilled with percussion tools to a depth of 21 metres for oil exploration.
1849 – Abraham Gesner developed a method for distilling kerosene from crude oil.
1857 – Development of the kerosene lamp – provided clean burning light
1857 – Preston Barmore drilled two gaswells on Canadaway Creek near Fredonia, NY – used an 8 pound charge of gunpowder at a depth of 122′ to ‘frack’ the well – the first record of artificial fracturing
1857 – First drilling of oil wells at Bend, northeast of Bucharest, on the Romanian side of the Carpathians
1858 – First oil well in North America at Oil Springs in Ontario, Canada
1859 – Col. Edwin Drake struck oil 69ft below the surface of the ground in Titusville, Pennsylvania.
1861 – First recorded shipping of oil between countries – from Pennsylvania to London on the sailing ship ‘Elizabeth Watts’
1862 – de Rochas of France patented the four stroke engine
1863 – J.D.Rockefeller founded an oil refining company in Cleveland
1870 – J.D.Rockerfeller formed Standard Oil (Ohio).- controlled 10% of American oil refinin
1872 – Rockerfeller took over 22 of his competitors (The Cleveland Massacre) to increase Standard Oil share of market to 25%
1877 – Rockerfeller controlled 90% of American refining
1878 – First oil drilling at Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela
1879 – Thomas Edison invents the electric light bulb
1882 – Standard Oil Trust formed
1885 – Oil discovered in Sumatra by Royal Dutch
1892 – Standard Oil Company of Ohio broken up by Federal Regulators
1893 – First well drilled in Los Angeles
1895 – Extraction of bitumen from bituminous sand using hot water at Carpenteria, California
1895 – John D. Rockerfeller retired
1895 – Invention of combustion engine
1896 – Henry Ford’s first motor car
1901 – Spindletop gusher, blew out on January 10, 1901 near Beaumont in East Texas, drilled by Captain Anthony Lucas it heralded the birth of the Texas oil industry – Gulf and Texaco.
1902 – Ida Tarbell begins campaign against the monopoly and questionable practices of the Standard Oil Trust – published a series of articles in McClure’s Magazine (1902-1904)
1903 – Wright Brothers first flight
1903 – Ford Motor Company founded
1905 – Baku oilfields set on fire during Russian Revolution
1906 – Federal Government filed suit against Standard Oil under the Antitrust Act.
1907 – Shell (British) and Royal Dutch merged to form Royal Dutch Shell
1908 – Oil discovered in Persia, Anglo Persian Oil company formed (Later BP)
1910 – First oil discovery in Mexico at Tampico on the Gulf Coast
1910 – US Congress authorised legislation to set aside land as Naval Petroleum Reserves.
1910 – Lakeview gusher blew out near Los Angeles, CA, reportedly at rates of >100,000BOPD with a total of 9,000,000 Bbls oil released before the well was brought under control
1911 – Break up of Standard Oil Trust orderd by Supreme Court* (See end for further detail)
1912 – Land in California (Elk Hills and Buena Vista Hills) as Naval Petroleum Reserves No. 1 & 2.
1914-1918 – World War I, the first conflict where control of oil supply really mattered – needed for tanks, ships and planes. British Forces captured Baghdad in 1917.
1915 – Teapot Dome Wyoming established as Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 3
1916 – Naval Oil Shale Reserves established in Colorado and Utah
1920
1921 – First experiment of using seismic waves to image the subsrface – at Vines Branch in south central Oklahoma by William Haseman, Clarence Karcher, Irvine Perrine and Daniel Ohern
1924 – Teapot Dome scandal – political manipulation in providing ‘friends’ with the right to develop the US Naval Oil Reserves resulted in the resignation of the Secretary of the Interior (Albert Fall) and Secretary of the Navy (Edwin Denby).
1929 – Start of Great Depression
1930 – East Texas Oilfield discovered by ‘Dad’ Joiner
1931 – Conrad and Marcel Schlumberger sucessfully identify presence of oil in a formation by measuring resistivity
1932 – Oil discovered in Bahrain
1933 – Saudi Arabia granted oil concessions to Standard of California – became California Arabian Standard Oil Company (Casoc)
1934 – The first floating drilling rig reported in the Caspian Sea
1933 – The Texas Company introduced the first submersible drilling barge which was used in the estuaries (Lake Pelto) Louisiana
1936 – Texaco took a 50% share in Casoc
1938 – Mexico nationalizes foreign oil companies, all assets placed under the control of Pemex
1938 – Oil discoverd in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia
1939-1945 – World War II – control of oil supply from Baku and Middle East played a huge role in the events of the war and the ultimate victory of the allies. Cutting off the oil supply considerably weakened Japan in the latter part of the war.
1941 – An inclined (slanted) well to the depth of 2000 metres was drilled by drilling master Aga Neymatulla’s team with turbodrill method on Bayil settlement (near Baku).
1942 – Japan invaded Indonesia for access to their oil reserves
1944 – Casoc became Aramco (Arabian American Oil Company)
1947 – Kerr McGee brings in the first producing oil well on the Outer Continental Shelf off Louisiana
1948 – Ghawar Field discovered in Saudi Arabia – the largest conventional oil field in the world (about 80 billion barrels)
1949 – First offshore oil drilling at Oil Rocks (Neft Dashlari) in the Caspian Sea off Azerbaijan eventually resulted in a city built on pylons
1950 – Aramco agreement with Saudi Arabia
1951 – Anglo Iranian Oil Company nationalized
1954 – Anglo-Persian Oil Company renamed British Petroleum
1955 – Egypt nationalised the Suez Canal
1956 – Suez Crisis – Britain, France and Israel attempted to regain control of Suez Canal
1956 – Oil discovered in Algeria and Nigeria
1959 – Natural gas discovered in Groningen Field, Netherlands
1959 – Arab Oil Congress in Cairo – a ‘gentleman’s agreement’ for oil producing countries to have a greater influence on oil production and marketing.
1960 – OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) founded in Baghdad – Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Kuwait, Iraq, and Iran. *See end for current member countries.
1964 – Start-up of Colony Oil Shale project in Colorado, USA – to extract oil from immature source rocks
1967 – Six day War between Israel and the Arab world, Suez Canal closed
1967 – Great Canadian Oil Sands Ltd (later Suncor) began production of tar sands north of Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada – first commercial production of the largest oil resource in the world.
1968 – Oil discovered on North slope of Alaska
1969 – Qaddafi seizes power in Libya
1969 – Santa Barbara oil spill, 6 miles offshore from Summerland, California. Created major backlash against industry.
1969 – Oil discovered in North Sea
1971 – Libya, Saudi Arabia, Algeria and Iraq negotiate price increase from $2.55 to $3.45 per barrel
1971 – OPEC Countries begin nationalising oil assets. – Libya nationalizes BP concession
1971 – US oil production peaked
1972 – Iraq nationalizes Iraq Petroleum Concession
1973 – Iran nationalizes oil assets
1973 – Saudi Governement acquired a 25% interest in Aaramco
- 1973 – Yom Kippur War – Egypt and Syria attacked Israel
- 1973 – Arab oil embargo on oil exports to the US for siding with Israel in the Yom Kippur War – oil prices rise from $2.90 to $11.65.1974 – (March) Arab oil embargo on oil exports to the US lifted
1975 – Venezuelan oil industry nationalised
1975 – First oil production from North Sea
1975 – Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) authorised in US – to store an emergency supply of oil in salt domes
1976 – Elk Hills Naval Petroleum Reserve, California opened for commercial production
1977 – Alaska oil pipeline completed
1978 – Amoco Cadiz runs aground off French Coast
1978 – Natural Gas Policy Act in United States – provided incentives or de-controlled pricing for certain types of gas deemed to be high cost – including ‘Tight Gas’
1979 – First significant coalbed methane drilling by Amoco in San Juan Basin, USA
1979 – Shah of Iran deposed, Ayatollah Khomeini takes power
1979 – Three Mile Island – Nuclear power plant accident
1979 – Saddam Hussein becomes President of Iraq
1979 – (June) Blowout at Ixtoc 1 in the Bay of Campeche in the Gulf of Mexico – brought under control in March 1980 – largest single oil spill
1979 – November – Iran takes US hostages
1979-1981 – Oil prices rise from $13.00 to $34.00
1980
1980 – Saudis bought out the balance of Aramco from US oil companies
1980 – Crude Oil Windfall Profits Act in United States – included an unconventional gas tax credit – provided tax credit when oil prices were low to reduce the chance of gas consumers switching to oil
1980 – Iraq launches war against Iran
1982 – OPEC’s first quotas
1982 – Exxon shuts down Colony project in Colorado – intended to extract oil from immature oil shale
1984 – Gulf Oil acquired by Chevron after a bidding war with Arco
1986 – Oil prices collapse
1986 – Chernobyl – Nuclear power plant accident
1986 – 87 – “Tanker War” between Iran and Iraq – destroying oil tankers in Persian Gulf
1987 – Naval Oil Shale Reserve transferred to the Ute Indians.
1988 – Cease fire in Iran-Iraq War
1988 – July 6 – Explosion at Piper Alpha North Sea oil and gas production platform operated by Occidental Petroleum (Caledonia) Ltd. The explosion and resulting fire destroyed the platform, killing 167 men, with only 59 survivors. At the time of the disaster the platform accounted for approximately ten percent of North Sea oil and gas production, and was the worst offshore oil disaster in terms of lives lost and industry impact.
1989 – March – Exxon Valdez aground in Prince William Sound, Alaska
1990
1990 – August – Iraq invades Kuwait, UN embargo on Iraq
1991 – January – Gulf War – Operation Desert Storm, Kuwait oilfields set alight
1991 – November – Soviet Union collapses
1995 – UN resolution to allow partial resumption of Iraq oil exports in “oil for food” deal.
1997 – Qatar inaugurates the world’s first significant liquid natural gas (LNG) exporting facility
1997 – Kyoto Agreement proposed to limit greenhouse gases
1998 – Asian economic crisis
1998 – 50 year moratorium on mining and oil exploration in Antarctica approved
1998 – Elk Hills Naval Petroleum Reserve sold to Occidental Petroleum for $3.65 billion.
1998 – BP announces plans to acquire Amoco for $48.2 billion
1998 – Exxon to acquire Mobil for $75.4 billion
1999 – Atlantic Richfield (Arco) acquired by BPAmoco
1999 – US Sanctions against Libya lifted
1999 – Total Fina and Elf Aquitaine agree to merge
1999 – Panama Canal reverts to Panamanian authority
1999 – Y2K has the world holding it’s breath – quickly turns to a yawn!
2000
2001 – September 11th – Terrorist attacks on the United States
2002 – Construction started on Bosphorus bypass pipeline bringing oil from Baku to the Mediterranean
2002 – Conoco and Phillips merged to form ConocoPhillips.
2002 – US threatens invasion of Iraq to stop development of WMD’s (Weapons of Mass Destruction).
2002 – (November) – UN weapons inspectors return to Iraq.
2002 – (November) – Oil tanker Prestige sunk off NW coast of Spain
2002 – (December) – Chevron-Texaco planning LNG receiving facility on Gulf Coast (800Mmcf/d increasing to 1.6Bcf/d)
2002 – (December) – National strike in Venezuela shuts down Venezuelan oil production
2003 – (February) – BP to purchase 50% interest in TNK – the 4th largest Russian oil company
2003 – Talisman sells holdings in Sudan following pressure from civil rights groups.
2003 – US Senate rejects proposal to allow oil exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge ( ANWR ) in northern Alaska
2003 – (March 19-20) -US led invasion of Iraq begins – to overthrow Saddam Hussein and prevent the spread of WMD’s.
2003 – (April 9) – US take Baghdad
2003 – (May 21) – Alan Greenspan acknowledges that the low level of natural gas supplies is “a very serious problem” in a Presentation to Congress’ Joint Economic Committee.
2003 – (Aug 14) – Major electrical failure causes blackout in New York State and Ontario.
2003 – (Sept) – Mikhail Khodorkovsky, CEO of Yukos Oil Co (largest Russian oil company) arrested
2003 (Dec 23) – Sour gas blow-out in Chongqing, SW China, kills 234 people
2004 (Jan 20) – Explosion at an LNG plant in Algeria halts oil production
2004 (July) – US oil imports at a record 11.3MMBO per day
2004 – (Nov) George Bush re-elected President in USA
2004 (Oct 25) – Oil at a record price of $55.67 US per barrel on concerns over high demand and possible supply disruptions in the Middle East and damage on the Gulf Coast from Hurricane Ivan .
2004 (Dec) – Renationalising of Russian oil industry continued with Rosneft acquiring the largest unit of OAO Yukos Oil Co. Yukos has been forced into bankruptcy due to non payment of taxes.
2004 – Oil production in UK sector of North Sea declined by 10% in 2004.
2005 (Mar 30) – Goldman Sachs suggest oil could spike to $105 US per barrel
2005 (Mar 23) – Explosion at BP’s Texas City Refinery kills 15 people and injures 170 others
2005 (Mar 31) – Oil briefly exceeds $58 US per barrel on continued strong demand and concern over supply
2005 (Apr 4) – Chevron-Texaco offer to buy Unocal Corp for $16.4 Billion
2005 (Apr) – Gulf Gateway Energy Bridge Deepwater Port opened – the first offshore LNG receiving facility and the first new LNG regasification facility to be built in the USA in 20 years.
2005 (June 23) – China State Oil Co offers $18.5 Billion for Unocal Corp, (offer withdrawn in August)
2005 (July 4) – First import of LNG to United Kingdom in 20 years as North Sea natural gas production declines
2005 (July 7) – Terrorist attacks in London – 4 bombs – 3 planted on Underground, 1 on a London bus.
2005 (July 24) – Iran and Iraq sign a cooperative oil trading agreement
2005 (Aug) – Chevron Corp acquisition of Unocal Corp finalised
2005 (Aug 29) – Hurricane Katrina strikes the Gulf Coast of the US with devastating results
2005 (Aug 29) – Oil reaches $70.80 US per Bbl.
2005 (Sept) – The 1770 km long Baku-Tbilisi-Jeyhan (BTJ or BTC) oil pipeline began operation at the Sangachal Oil Terminal in Baku. The second longest oil pipeline in the world after Russia’s “Druzhba”.
2005 (Sept 19) – Natural gas (NYMEX) at all time high of $12.33US on fears of new storm approaching Gulf of Mexico.
2005 (Sept 23) – Hurricane Rita strikes Gulf Coast
2005 (Dec 13) – Natural gas price hits a record high of $15.65US/mmbtu in the United States
2005 (Dec 13) – Conoco Philips and Burlington Resources to merge in a deal valued at $35.6US Billion
2006 (Jan 1) – Russia attempts to penalise the Ukraine by blocking
Contact Us to ask a question, provide feedback, or report a problem.
