OIL INTRO

The History of Petroleum

OIL PRODUCTION

Various theories have been advanced over the years as to the origin of petroleum proposing an animal, vegetable, mineral and even meteoric origin. Today, however, most scientists believe that oil and gas originated in plant and animal matter that accumulated in fine grained sediments at the bottom of ancient seas many millions of years ago. This theory suggests that oil originated as the remains of countless organisms that either lived in the sea or were deposited there with mud and silt from prehistoric rivers and streams.

The remains of these ancient plants and animals were transformed into oil and gas by bacterial action with heat and pressure resulting from deep burial beneath other sediments.

It seems, then, that the story of petroleum began hundreds of millions of years ago. But when did humans first learn to use petroleum?

Petroleum Used by Ancient Civilizations

No one knows exactly when humans first used petroleum. It is known, however, that ancient peoples worshiped sacred fires fueled by natural gas seeping to the surface through pores and cracks.

The use of thick gummy asphalt to waterproof boats and heat homes was recorded as long ago as 6000 BC.

About 3000 BC the Egyptians used asphalt in the construction of the pyramids, to grease the axles of the Pharaoh's chariots, as an embalming agent for mummies and in medicinal preparations.

In early North America, Indians skimmed oil from the surface of springs using it to waterproof canoes and in the making of war paints. They taught the colonists to use oil for healing and self-styled "doctors" bottled "Seneca oil" or "rock oil" and sold it as a cure-all.

When whale oil, the main source of lamp fuel in the early 1800’s, became scarce, a new source was needed.

Inventors began to distill illuminating and lubricating oils from natural petroleum seeps and from coal.

Despite the varied and inventive uses being recognized, petroleum was still thought to be a substance of only minor importance. Some thought it was suitable only for use as a lubricant, patent medicine, asphalt and kerosene (for lamps) and nothing else. Others even argued that removal of petroleum from beneath the earth's surface would put out the fires of Hades. But changes were occurring in the world. Changes that would make the continued development and growth of the petroleum industry inevitable.

The First Oil Wells

For thousands of years, the only sources of petroleum had been surface seeps or tar pits. These sources were not very productive, so certain individuals decided to look for oil underground, by drilling.

In 1858, one such individual, a 39 year old carriage maker from Hamilton, Ontario, named James Miller Williams made the first major commercial oil discovery in North America at Oil Springs, Ontario.

Drilling in "gum beds" in Lambton County, 25 km southeast of Sarnia, he struck oil at a depth of only 18 metres. Williams refined the oil he produced and sold the product as lamp oil. In the following

year, Colonel Edwin L. Drake discovered oil in Titusville, Pennsylvania by drilling to 21 meters. This discovery signaled the birth of the modern petroleum industry in the United States.

The Oil Boom Begins

As a result of the oil discoveries of the 1850's, numerous refineries were built to turn crude oil into kerosene for lamps and into lubricating oils for the machines of the industrial revolution. Oil began to replace coal as the fuel for steam engines.

The invention of the gasoline engine (1885) and diesel engine (1892) allowed inventors of horseless carriages to adopt a new power source to replace steam and electricity. Gasoline which had previously been considered a useless by-product of the distillation of crude oil would now take on a new importance as advancements in technology made possible the mass production of the automobile in early years of the twentieth century.

In 1903, at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, the Wright brothers utilized petroleum to realize what could only be imagined by previous generations - flight. Since that first flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, petroleum has fueled every type of aircraft from Lindberg's "Spirit of St. Louis" to today's jumbo jets.

The Present

Today, we are well into the space age, but petroleum is still the dominant source of energy used by humankind. This is especially true in the transportation industry.

This versatile fuel that is so easily transported and poured into the fuel tanks of our cars and planes has also been largely responsible for the rapid technological advances we have experienced in the past 100 years.

It was less than 500 years ago, in 1519, that Ferdinand Magellan set out with five ships on one of the greatest expeditions in human history; to circumnavigate the world. This voyage cost the lives of most of Magellans' men, including his own, and took three years to complete. Today, it would not be considered a great accomplishment to go around the world, using modern air travel, on a three week vacation. Indeed the world has become a much smaller place, largely due to petroleum - that smelly, oily substance that had its beginnings in ancient seas millions of years before men and women walked the earth.