8 July, 2021
July 11, 2008 – World Oil Price hits Historic High The price of oil reached a record high of $147.27 a barrel before dropping back to $145.08. Prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange had peaked at $145.29 a barrel eight days earlier. As supply fears subsided, oil prices fell below $37 a barrel by … Continue reading “This Week in Oil & Gas History”
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14 January, 2021
January 12, 1926 – Texans patent Ram-Type Blowout Preventer Seeking to end dangerous and wasteful oil gushers, James Abercrombie and Harry Cameron received a patent for a hydraulic ram-type blowout preventer. Petroleum companies embraced the new technology, which the inventors improved in the 1930s. Their concept used rams — hydrostatic pistons — to close on the … Continue reading “This Week in Oil & Gas History”
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16 December, 2020
December 17, 1884 – Fighting Oilfield Fires with Cannons “Oil fires, like battles, are fought by artillery” proclaimed an article in The Tech, a student newspaper of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “A Thunder-Storm in the Oil Country” featured the reporter’s firsthand account of the problem of lightning strikes in America’s oilfields. The MIT article … Continue reading “This Week in Oil & Gas History”
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19 November, 2020
November 20, 1930 – Oil Booms help Hilton expand in Texas After buying his first motel in the booming oil town of Cisco, Texas, Conrad Hilton opened a high-rise hotel in El Paso. While visiting Cisco in 1919, Hilton had witnessed roughnecks from the Ranger oilfield waiting for rooms. Hilton’s first hotel, the Mobley, had … Continue reading “This Week in Oil & Gas History”
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11 November, 2020
November 13, 1925 – New Oil Discovery at Spindletop, Texas The Yount-Lee Oil Company started a second major drilling boom at Spindletop, Texas, when the McFaddin No. 2 well began producing 5,000 barrels of oil a day. The well was completed just south of the famous “Lucas Gusher” of 1901. Miles Yount, who had founded his exploration … Continue reading “This Week in Oil & Gas History”
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5 November, 2020
November 8, 1880 – Death of Edwin L. Drake, Father of U.S. Petroleum Industry Edwin Laurentine Drake, the former railroad conductor who drilled America’s first commercial oil well, died in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, at the age of 61. Drake drilled just three wells – but his first – which produced oil on August 27, 1859 – launched … Continue reading “This Week in Oil & Gas History”
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29 October, 2020
October 30, 1894 – “Golden Rule” Jones patents a Better Sucker Rod Samuel Jones patented a sucker rod design for his Acme Sucker Rod Company, which he had founded in 1892 in Toledo, Ohio. With his “Coupling for Pipes or Rods,” Jones applied his oilfield experience in mechanics to solve the frequent and time-consuming problem of … Continue reading “This Week in Oil & Gas History”
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21 October, 2020
October 23, 1948 – “Smart Pig” advances Pipeline Inspection Northern Natural Gas Company recorded the first use of an X-ray machine for internal testing of petroleum pipeline welds. The company examined a 20-inch diameter pipe north of its Clifton, Kansas, compressor station. The device – today known as a “smart pig” – traveled up to 1,800 … Continue reading “This Week in Oil & Gas History”
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15 October, 2020
October 16, 1931 – Natural Gas Pipeline sets Record America’s first long-distance, high-pressure natural gas pipeline went into service during the Great Depression; it linked the prolific Texas Panhandle gas fields to consumers in Chicago. A 1931 natural gas pipeline extended 980 miles from North Texas to Illinois. A.O. Smith Corporation had developed the technology … Continue reading “This Week in Oil & Gas History”
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7 October, 2020
Shamrock JV #1 – Drilling Rig Video
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7 October, 2020
October 7, 1859 – First American Oil Well Ignites in Flames The wooden derrick and engine house of the first U.S. commercial oil well erupted in flames, perhaps America’s first oil well fire. The well beside Oil Creek at Titusville, Pennsylvania, had been completed the previous August by Edwin L Drake for George Bissell and … Continue reading “This Week in Oil & Gas History”
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5 October, 2020
The Crown Shamrock #1 Joint Venture, Well #1H was spud on September 25th. Please see Field Reports/Weekly Activity for continued information.
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