The Petroleum Industry: A Nontechnical Guide

By Charles F. Conaway
Petroleum based products have been present throhgout early European History with uyses ranging from
healing ointments to combustible weapons of war. Eventually a small oil industry began to develop in
Eastern Europe aound 1854 that focused primarily on peasant-dug shafts to obtain crude oil. This oil was
then refined to abstract kerosene, which was then used in cheaply manufactured lamps. By 1859 a
thriving kerosene oil business had been established. Total European crude production in 1859 had been
estimated at 36,000 barrels, primarily from Galicia and Romania. More than anything, the Eastern
European industry lacked the technology for drilling,.
This problem was solved through the determition on one man, George Bissell. Bissell had the inspiration
and insight to realise that the same method used for salt Boring could be used to bore, or drill, for oil
deposits buried beneath the earth. Crude oil, or rock oil as it was called, was then a by-product of the
salt drilling process and considered a nuisance. Bissell recruited investors in his plan and formed the
Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company. Their first objective was to find a promising area of land on which to
drill and then to find someone capable to do the drilling. The man they propositioned was one Edwin L.
Drake who happened to meet on of the key investors in the Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company while living
in the same hotel. This investor was (page not avaible after xi page )
Politics of the Global Oil Industry: An Introduction 2005, Praeger Publishers, Westport, CT
By Toyin Falola, Ann Genova
Although its discovery is generally recognised to have happened in the 1800s, oil and hardly unfamiliar
to societies throughout the world before that time. The oil that seeps to the surface is what people in
ancient times first discovered. It is usually found in the form of bitumen, which is a solid or viscous
hydrocarbon. Today it is often processed into asphalt and is used primarily for construction of roads and
for roofing materials. Around 3,000 B C E, ancient peoples of the present-day Middle East traded bitumen
to be used as building mortar, medicine, and lighting fuel. Starting in 1900 BCE, the Chinese began using
natural gas from wells. The Aztecs of present-day Mexico used bitumen as medicine and mixed it with
other ingredients to make dyes. They also used it on the roofs of their homes and on canoes as
waterproofing material. In the 1500s the Spanish began to ship bitumen back to Spain from South
America.
Petroleum products caught on as widely traded commodities across the world in the later 1800s, when
kerosene emerged as a major source of lighting fuel. Petroleum saw a second major boost in popularity
with the invention of the automobile. Escalating demand for transportation field prompted oil companies
to devote more crude oil to the development f gasoline than to kerosene.
Today, oil is understood as the most flexible fuel resource available. It can be used as an efficient source
of fuel, it is in almost everything we use in our daily activities. In addition to the most obvious examples
of automobiles and gas heather, petroleum products are numerous other household items.
World Atlas of Oil and Gas Basins, 2011
By Guoyu Li
Ancient Times
The history of the human race, particularly between 2000 BC and AD 1900 shows a remarkable transition
from near-ignorance to a better appreciation of the Earths resources and their functional value to human
development. Three ancient civilisation Egyptian, Babylon and Indian exploited oil asphalt from

surface seepages for construction, lighting and rudimentary medicine production. It was only later that
this rare fossil resource came to be exploited for oil production.
Total annual world production was merely 300 tons* in 1857, but then showed dramatic increases to
800,000 tons in 1870, 4 million tons in 1880, 10 million tons in 1890 and 20 million tons in 1900. As of
1900, 8.5 millions tons of oil have been produced in the USA, representing 42% of world total. At the
same time, Russia produced 10.68 million tons, 52% of the world total. The interesting fact is that these
two countries remain the largest oil producers in the world and this reinforces the premise that there are
still many large oil and gas provinces to be discovered.
The present
The present refers to the whole of 20th century, which represents a critical historical phase of the
development phase of the development of the global petroleum industry, particular the 55 years after the
end of Second WorldWar. Consider the interesting statistic that worldwide production was a mere 20
million tons in 1900, but reached 3.36 billion tons by 2000, a staggering 164-fold increase over the course
of the century. This spectacular growth rate clearly indicates the importance of oil and gas in developing
perspective for future analysis of the global energy industry.
There are five key features of the stages of the development of the global petroleum industry, which can
be summarised as follows.
1. Oil and gas fossils fuels and their use in high efficiency internal combustion engines were
important drivers for the rapid human development during the early stages of the 20 th centre. By
the year 2000, oil and gas accounted for 61% of the worlds energy mix.
2. There were multiple significant discoveries of oil and gas provinces in the 20 th century including:
Mexico-1901; Iran 904; Venenzuela 1922, Kuwait 1938, Saudi Arabia 1940, Baku (second) 1948,
Draping (China) 1959, West Siberia (Russia) 1960, North Sea Oil -1969
These and other discoveries of oil and gas provinces have laid a solid basis for the development
of the global oil industry both for the present and for the future.
3. Economic statistics clearly confirm that the level of a countrys aggregate prosperity is directly
proportional to national fuel consumption. Consider the following figures of fuel consumption in
some of the world;s major economies in 2000:
USA 890 milion ton (mt), Japan 250mt, China 230 mt, Germany 129 mt, Russia 123mt, France
94.9 mt, Italy, 93.5 mt, Britian 78.9mt.
In all these countries, the strong long-term industrial and agricultural bases and rapid sustained
economic development were drive by abundant oil and gas resources.
4. Geopolitical competition for oil and gas resrouces continues unabatated and indeed is
intensifying. The USA, western Europe, Japan and China are four major oil consuming nations
and regions. The competition among them for oil and gas is fierce, and in the case of the USA and
western Europe.
5. Oil exploration and extraction technologies have flourished. Geological conditions for oil and gas
exploration and development are becoming more complicated, but humankind has tackled these
challenges with vigorous advancement and enhancement of technologies such as geophysical
techniques (e.g. three-and four dimensional seismic mapping), horizontal drilling technologies
and polymer flooding techniques, just to name a few.