Oil & Gas Exploration history

Soon after, Lukasiewicz travelled to Vienna, the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, to register his distillation process in the Vienna patent office with his co-worker, J. Zeh, on the 31 December 1853.

Then, in 1856, Lukasiewicz set up the world's first crude oil refinery at Ulaszowice in Poland.

Romania was the first country in the world to have its crude oil output officially recorded in international statistics with an amount of 275 tonnes recorded for 1857.

The first oil discovery in NW Europe was made when the Wietze oil field near Hannover in Germany was discovered in 1859 (Fig.

Exploration for oil started again in the Gabian area in France in the early 1860, and numerous shallow wells were drilled around the old oil spring.

The first United States oil refinery comes online in 1861, and the United States exports its first shipment of refined oil to London.

The first deep well to encounter gas in Britain was drilled on the crest of the Battle Anticline at Netherfield in West Sussex by the Subwealden Exploration Company in 1875.

In 1880, the United States is responsible for 85 percent of the world’s crude oil production and refining, and kerosene is the fourth largest United States export.

By 1900, more than two hundred oil byproducts—including fuel for stoves and internal combustion engines, as well as lubricants for industrial machinery—begin to enter daily life.

The 1901 Spindletop gusher—the largest to date—fuels a major oil rush in Texas, and United States oil production nearly triples in a decade.

In 1905, he documented the oil potential of the Mosul region for the first time.

Henry Ford’s invention of the Model T in 1908—the world’s first inexpensive, mass-produced car—helps pave the way for a significant increase in auto ownership.

By the start of World War I, approximately 1335 km of pipeline had been laid in Romania to transport oil, and Germany's invasion of Romania in 1916 was driven by the desire to have access to the country's rich oil fields.

Powers to enter onto land for the purpose of drilling for oil (but not ownership of any oil found) were provided under the Defence of the Realm Act of January 1918 and the government used these powers to take the land necessary for the nine well sites.

In 1919, the United States Geological Survey estimates United States oil supplies will run out in ten years, triggering the country’s first oil security fears.

Congress passes the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920 [PDF], which requires leasing of federal lands for energy prospecting for the first time.

Britain’s attempt to stabilize European oil prices through the 1928 Achnacarry Agreement, which limits sales by oil producers, is met with mixed success.

Eventually, the Petroleum Prospecting Act of 1934 gave the Crown the rights of ownership of any future discoveries of naturally occurring oil or gas and made it possible for companies to acquire exploration licences in the UK for the first time.

Though the Supreme Court overturns the federal quota system in 1935, United States oil-producing states voluntarily continue it and prices begin to recover.

In 1938, Saudi Arabia is found to have vast quantities of oil.

The birth and development of the oil and gas industry in the Northern Carpathians (up until 1939)

In 1943, with concerns growing about the diminishing United States oil production capacity, President Franklin Roosevelt declares Saudi oil vital to United States security and provides financial support.

5 April 1944, B-24 Liberators in formation, bombing the Ploieşti oil installations in Romania.

Ltd (later to become BP) found gas at Eskdale in North Yorkshire (Anglo-Iranian Oil Company Ltd 1947; Haarhoff et al.

In 1952, the Gas Council (GC) joined forces with BP in the search for natural gas and for structures suitable for the storage of peak-load gas.

The search for other oil fields continued and, in 1953, BP found oil at Plungar in the Vale of Belvoir in Leicestershire – the first post-war oil field discovered in Britain.

1) and, in 1959, the drilling of the Gela 21 well, the first offshore well in Europe, boosted further exploration possibilities in Italy.

The Eakring Field in the East Midlands was the first of 25 onshore discoveries made in Britain over the next 30 years (Falcon & Kent 1960) (Figs 12 & 13), a period that defined what was, effectively, Britain's first ‘oil boom’. After World War II, both D'Arcy Exploration Co.

The former was found to contain some oil during subsequent appraisal drilling in 1965.

Esso made a further gas discovery at Bletchingley in Surrey in 1966, but the field was not developed commercially due to its low calorific value.

In April 1971, OPEC moves to rebalance profit sharing and oil prices and refuses to allow foreign oil companies to deal with the organization as a whole.

Faced with a looming gasoline shortage, in April 1973 President Richard Nixon announces he is ending the Mandatory Import Program—which sets limits on oil imports—but rejects recommendations to implement conservation efforts and develop fuel alternatives.

Oil was first produced from the UK North Sea from the Argyll Field in June 1975 (Gluyas et al.

The United States reserve sale represents the fourth major drawdown since the reserve’s initiation in 1977.

President Carter also puts out his first set of energy proposals focusing mainly on conservation, and signs legislation in 1978 to encourage fuel switching and efficiency by electric utilities and other United States industries.

However, it was the steep rise in prices in 1979–80 following the Iranian revolution when the price of oil again rose that really rejuvenated exploration for oil and gas in Europe, and elsewhere in the world.

President Nixon on November 7 announces a swath of new energy policies and “Project Independence,” a goal of United States energy independence by 1980.

The Reagan administration fully deregulates crude prices in 1981, allowing United States producers to raise prices to market levels.

Taylor Woodrow made another gas discovery at Kirby Misperton in North Yorkshire in 1985 (Haarhoff et al.

He established a bitumen mine called ‘de la Presta’ that operated until 1986.

In October 1987, a group headed by RTZ was awarded the very first new-style Development Licence to develop the Crosby Warren Field on the north side of the Humber estuary.

Iraq invades Kuwait on August 2, 1990, following a dispute over the Rumaila oil field on the border.

Nations dependent on Persian Gulf imports, such as Japan, provide much of the funding for a United States-led, multinational military effort to liberate Kuwait in January 1991.

In 1993, the Clinton administration announces a partnership to develop and produce affordable, fuel-efficient, low-emission vehicles.

Asia’s economic crisis in 1997 causes a drop in demand in what has been a growth region for oil markets.

In 1999, Vladimir Putin takes office as president of Russia, which has the largest conventional oil reserves outside of OPEC. Both Venezuela and Russia nationalize much of their oil resources and restrict access by international oil companies.

In 2004, Canada surpasses Saudi Arabia as the largest single exporter of oil to the United States, providing 1.6 million barrels per day compared to the Saudi’s 1.5 million barrels.

Calls renew for strengthened measures to reduce United States oil consumption, now at less than nineteen million barrels per day, down nearly two million barrels from 2005 record levels.

In his 2006 State of the Union address, United States President George W. Bush says “America is addicted to oil.” The law is criticized for adding billions in federal subsidies to the oil industry, and subsidies of corn-based biofuel are criticized as a threat to food security and the environment.

Poland, in particular, took a leading role in the evaluation of its potential shale-gas resources and, from 2007 onwards, the Polish government started to assign shale-gas exploration licences to both national and foreign companies in the hope of reducing Poland's dependence on Russian gas.

Shortly after the global financial crisis begins in 2008, oil prices plummet.

In May 2009, the Obama administration announces accelerated CAFE standards of 39 mpg for cars and 30 mpg for light trucks, which the administration highlighted as part of its climate change policy goals.

In the spring of 2010, United States President Barack Obama lays out his plans for United States energy policy, including supporting more biofuels and opening more United States waters to offshore oil drilling.

In February 2011, Libya becomes the first major oil-producing nation to join a spate of popular uprisings in the region, which topples regimes in Egypt and Tunisia.

One particularly early example, near Wigan in Lancashire (Selley 2012), was recorded by Camden in his book ‘Britannia or a Chorographical Description of Great Britain and Ireland’ published in 1586 and is often referred to colloquially as ‘Camden's cooker’ (Camden 1586).

↵Morton M.Q. 2014. ‘What oilfields?’ – onshore oil in the UK. GEOExPro, 11, 70–74.OpenUrlGoogle Scholar

2016) – the first use of refined oil for street lighting anywhere in the world.

First published online May 8, 2018, https://doi.org/10.1144/SP465.9Google Scholar

In June, Trump announces the United States withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, which takes effect in November 2020.