You wouldn't see a big underground lake, as many people think. If you could look down an oil well and see oil where nature created it, you might be surprised. To produce this oil, we must be able to look down an oil well. There is still more oil left in fields that have been pumping for 20, 30 or even 50 years. It means that we are running out of "easy" oil. That doesn't mean we are running out of oil, however. Nevertheless, even these fields are slowing down. Oil fields continue to produce millions of barrels of oil each day. In places like Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and California, Very little oil, for example, is still produced in Pennsylvania where the industry was born. oil well, a lot of oil fields have gone dry. But in the almost 150 years sinceĮdwin L. Oil flows from reservoirs underneath more than 30 States. More than 8,000 companies produce oil in the United States. Today, in the United States, the oil industry employs more than 300,000 workers. There, floating on top of water in the pipe, was oil. He peered down into the pipe that had been left in the hole. Work stopped, but the next day one of theĭrakes employees went out to check the drill rig. Then, the drill dropped into an underground crevice and abruptly slid down another 6 inches. Before he got it, Drake had drilled about 69 feet. The letter was slow in arriving at Titusville. Investors became nervous, and late that summer, they sent a letter to Drake directing that he cease operations pay off his debts and give up. In the spring of 1859, he built the derrick and started to drill. (Some books call him "Colonel" Drake, but he invented that title only to impress the localĭrake spent almost a year - from 1858 to 1859 - getting the money and building the equipment (including a steam engine) he needed to drill. Drake to go to Titusville, Pennsylvania and see if he could drill for oil. They hired a part-time railroad conductor named Edwin L. Money for the venture remarked, "Oil coming out of the ground, pumping oil out of the earth as you pump water? Nonsense!" However, the Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company was convinced that drilling for oil - rather than digging for it - was One banker who was asked to lend some of the At first, this "rock oil" had been used as a medicine, but if enough of it could be found, perhaps it mightĭigging huge pits, however, was a time-consuming, expensive operation, so the Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company came up with the idea of drilling for oil. People drilling for salt had encountered oily rocks in Pennsylvania. Oil Company became interested in digging for natural oil. In those days, melting the fat of whales made an oily fuel for lamps and lubricants. Today's oil industry actually began almost 150 years ago - in 1859. Oil residues from surface seepages near Nacogdoches, Texas, were used to repair the boats of the In what is now the United States, petroleum was reported by Juan Rodriquez, a Spanish explorer, in 1542 near Santa Barbara, California. Ruins of early ships found by archeologists indicate that those vessels were caulked (cracks sealed to keep water out) with a form of asphalt, sometimes called bitumen or pitch. Asphalt was also used by the ancient Egyptians to embalm mummies. Inscriptions found by archeologists indicate that oil and asphalt (a hard form of oil) were even used in 4000 BC in thisĪrea. Marco Polo during his trips in the 13th Century recorded oil seeping from underground in the Caspian Sea region. Around 300 BC, Alexander the Great supposedly used burning oil or "petroleum" to frighten the war elephants of his enemies.
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