How Oil Has Been Used Through The Ages

by

Graham Baylis

People have been using oil in one form or another for about 5,000 years. Over the centuries civilizations such as the ancient Egyptians made use of it in the preparation of mummies before burial. The Native Americans used oil for medicinal purposes. The Chinese were using it for numerous purposes and were the first to develop drilling techniques. Asphalt has been used for centuries to seal seams and leaks in boats and ships. However, it was not until the 19th century that crude oil was refined into a form of kerosene and this was first achieved by the Russian brothers Dubinin. Up until then, whale oil was a common fuel for lamps but as whale numbers declined, other sources of fuel were required. At the beginning of the 20th century motor vehicles were becoming more popular and these also needed fuelling.

As more refined oil products were being demanded, it became apparent that oil would have to be extracted from new sources. The race was then on to develop drilling equipment and tap into underground oil reservoirs. In 1859 an American named Edwin Drake successfully drilled the first oil well in Titusville, Pennsylvania. He managed to strike oil at approximately 69 feet and this well was producing around 30 barrels of crude oil per day. This discovery led to the new \’Black gold rush\’ and oil prospectors replaced gold prospectors all over the United States of America. Texas first became an oil producing state during the 1890s when oil was found whilst drilling for water and it took several days for the drillers to realize what they had actually found.

At Spindletop, Texas in January 1901, the first drilling rig struck oil which came gushing out and reached a height of around 100 feet into the air. This discovery was instrumental in leading the state of Texas from being just an agricultural producer to a major player in the oil industry. The Spindletop oil field was soon producing more than 100,000 barrels of crude oil a day and this led to a massive increase in drilling rigs throughout Texas. The state was soon producing in excess of seventeen million barrels a year. You would think that after such a frenzy in the early to mid 20th century, the oil would be running out in Texas but this is not the case, there are believed to be more than 5 billion barrels of untapped crude oil still available.

Off shore oil production in the North Sea began in 1969 following successful test drilling by the Phillips Petroleum Company in the Ekofisk oil field which is located in Norwegian waters. In 1970, the Forties and Brent oilfields were discovered off the Scottish coast. There are currently five countries that own sectors of the North Sea for extracting oil and gas and those are: The United Kingdom, Norway, Germany, Denmark and The Netherlands. Norway and the United Kingdom have the largest share of the North Sea and both countries continue to invest in their oil and gas fields.

More countries than ever are involved in oil exploration and extraction and as the world demands more refined oil than ever before, more technology and advancements are needed to achieve that.

Graham Baylis writes articles for Exol Lubricants with the aim of entertaining and informing their customers about the subject of

lubrication oils and fluids

. If you are interested in this area, their blog is also a resouorce that you should not miss out on. See

exol-lubricants.com

for more info.

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