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First American Oil Well
Americas first oil well Rock Oil Company of New York, today considered America’s first oil company.A scientist hired by a group of investors four years earlier, reported oil to be an ideal source for making kerosene, far better than the refined coal then in use. As America expanded westward, public demand for “rock oil” or “coal oil” skyrocketed. Located in northwesteren pensylvania. -
North Americas First Oil Cusher
North America’s first oil gusher blows at the Spindletop field near Beaumont in southeastern Texas, spraying more than 800,000 barrels of crude into the air before it can be brought under control. The strike boosts the yearly oil output in the United States from 2,000 barrels in 1859 to more than 65 million barrels by 1901. -
High-pressure hydrogenation process developed
German organic chemist Friedrich Bergius develops a high-pressure hydrogenation process that transforms heavy oil and oil residues into lighter oils, boosting gasoline production. In 1926 IG Farben Industries, where Carl Bosch had been developing similar high-pressure processes, acquires the patent rights to the Bergius process. Bergius and Bosch share a Nobel Prize in 1931. -
New method of oil refining
Chemical engineers William Burton and Robert Humphreys of Standard Oil patent a method of oil refining that significantly increases gasoline yields. Known as thermal cracking, the chemists discover that by applying both heat and pressure during distillation, heavier petroleum molecules can be broken down, or cracked, into gasoline’s lighter molecules. The discovery is a boon to the new auto industry, whose fuel of choice is gasoline. -
Portable offshore drilling
By mounting a derrick and drilling outfit onto a submersible barge, Texas oilman Louis Giliasso creates an efficient portable method of offshore drilling. The transportable barge allows a rig to be erected in as little as a day, which makes for easier exploration of the Texas and Louisiana coastal wetlands. More permanent offshore piers and platforms had been successfully operating since the late 1800s off the coast of California near Santa Barbara, where oil seepage in the Pacific had been repo -
Catalytic cracking introduced
French scientist Eugene Houdry introduces catalytic cracking. By using silica and alumina-based catalysts, he demonstrates not only that more gasoline can be produced from oil without the use of high pressure but also that it has a higher octane rating and burns more efficiently. -
Platforming invented
German-born American chemical engineer Vladimir Haensel invents platforming, a process for producing cleaner-burning high-octane fuels using a platinum catalyst to speed up certain chemical reactions. Platforming eliminates the need to add lead to gasoline. -
Synthetic Oils
Synthetic oils are in development to meet the special lubricating requirements of military jets. Mobil Oil and AMSOIL are leaders in this field; their synthetics contain such additives as polyalphaolefins, derived from olefin, one of the three primary petrochemical groups. Saturated with hydrogen, olefin-carbon molecules provide excellent thermal stability. Following on the success of synthetic oils in military applications, they are introduced into the commercial market in the 1970s for use in -
Mud pulse telemetry
Teleco, Inc., of Greenville, South Carolina, and the U.S. Department of Energy introduce mud pulse telemetry, a system of relaying pressure pulses through drilling mud to convey the location of the drill bit. Mud pulse telemetry is now an oil industry standard, saving millions of dollars in time and labor. -
ROVs developed for subsea oil work
Remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) are developed for subsea oil work. Controlled from the surface, ROVs vary from beachball-size cameras to truck-size maintenance robots. -
New tools and techniques to reduce the costs and risks of drilling
The combined efforts of private industry, the Department of Energy, and national laboratories such as Argonne and Lawrence Livermore result in the introduction of several new tools and techniques designed to reduce the costs and risks of drilling, including reducing potential damage to the geological formation and improving environmental protection. Among such tools are the near-bit sensor, which gathers data from just behind the drill bit and transmits it to the surface, and carbon dioxide/sand -
Hoover- Diana goes into operation
The Hoover-Diana, a 63,000-ton deep-draft caisson vessel, goes into operation in the Gulf of Mexico. A joint venture by Exxon Mobil and BP, it is a production platform mounted atop a floating cylindrical concrete tube anchored in 4,800 feet of water. The entire structure is 83 stories high, with 90 percent of it below the surface. Within half a year it is producing 20,000 barrels of oil and 220 million cubic feet of gas a day. Two pipelines carry the oil and gas to shore. -
Detergent
All soapless detergents used to wash clothes and dishes are derived from the petrochemical glycerin. -
Gasoline
Gasoline is the most commonly used product by Americans for their day to day transportation needs. 45% of all oil used in the U.S. goes to gasoline, which means we consume in excess of 180 million gallons of gasoline a day.
