HISTORY

6th Century The army of Kir II, first shah of Achaemenid Empire (present -
BC Iran), used Absheron oil in weapons of fire to invade castles and
cities. (Note: much of the historic information relating to the
early history in the Middle East has been provided by Mir-Yusif
Mir-Babayev, Professor of Azerbaijan Technical University in
Baku ).
450BC  Herodotus described oil pits near Babylon

325BC Alexander the Great used flaming torches of petroleum products

to scare his enemies
c100AD Plutarch described oil bubbling from the ground near Kirkuk in
present day Iraq
347AD Chinese reported to have drilled holes in ground using bamboo to
extract oil
8th Century Baku people used ground impregnated with oil for heating
AD because of absence of wood
9th Century Arabian traveler Baladzori (Al-Belazuri Ahmed) describes in
AD "The Conquest of the countries" that political and economic life
on Absheron had been long connected with oil.
10th Century Arabian traveler Abu-Dulaf visits and describes Absheron's oil
AD sources; and noted that there were two major sources - black and
white oil. White oil was exported to Iran, Iraq and India as a
valuable article.
12th Century A unique medicinal oil from the Naftalan (Azerbaijan region),
AD  was used for curing various health problems. It was carried in
wineskins through the territory of modern Georgia to the Black
Sea shores and from there to other countries of the world.
1273 Marco Polo recorded visiting the Persian city of Baku, on the
shores of the Caspian Sea in modern Azerbaijan, he saw oil being
collected from seeps for use in medicine and lighting.
1500s  Oil from seeps in the Carpathian Mountains in Poland was
burned in street lamps to provide light in the Polish town of
Krosno.
1568  Under the direction of Englishmen Thomas Bannister and Jeffrey
Duckett, Moscow Company agents visited Azerbaijan and wrote
about Baku oil (the Moscow Company was founded in London in
1555).
1594 A stone dated 1594 and signed by Allahyar Mahammad Nurogly
is found in an oil well (kolodets) 35 metres deep in Baku (in
settlement Balakhani); this well is dug by hand.
1618 Italian traveler Pietro Della Valle spoke about great amounts of
black oil around Baku; it was cheap and brought lots of income
to the shah every year.
1637  Baku oil is marked as a 'terrible weapon by ignition' in a "List of
gun stocks' of Moscow state.
1647 Turkish traveller Evliya Chelebi examines and thoroughly
describes Baku oil fields while in Baku. According to his data,
Baku oil brought 7000 tumans of annual income to Shah's
treasury and was exported to Persia, Central Asia, Turkey and
India.
1666 Dutch sailor and traveller Jan Struys (he was taken prisoner in
Iran and used to visit this place often with the merchant who
owned him - he even drew the Caspian sea map) visited
Azerbaijan and wrote in his work called "Journey" that there
were wells built with stones inside and with white and black oil
coming to the surface on Besh Barmag mountain (now - in
Siazan region of Azerbaijan).
1723 Peter the Great (1672-1725) issues special decrees about the
order of oil extraction; in a letter to major-general Michael
Matyushkin, who governed Baku, he demanded sending "one
thousand poods of white oil or as much as possible, and to look
for increase in production". Persian campaign (1722-1723) of
Peter I resulted in Baku and Derbent (on the East coast of
Caspian) being annexed to Russia.
1739  Academician I.V. Veytbreht publishes the treatise "About the
oil", which contains much data about Absheron oil.
1741 Director of English-Russian trading company Ioannas Hanway
investigated condition of Baku oilfields. In 1754 he published
"Historical essay about English trade in Caspian Sea" in London.
1771 Academician Samuil Gmelin (1745-1774) visits Baku and
confirms that white oil was sublimated for production of
kerosene in Surakhani and describes the technique of well's oil
production.
1781 Count Marko Voynovich (1750-1807), the chief of the Caspian
expedition, finds the signs of oil and gas on the bottom of the
Caspian Sea near the island Zhiloy (Chilov), near the Absheron
 peninsula. In 1781-1782 Voynovich M.I. charted a detailed map
of Eastern part of the Caspian Sea.
1796 Marshal von Frederick Bibershtein (1768-1826) notes that "the
Absheron peninsula contains an inexhaustible stock of oil". 
1836 For the first time, academician G.I. Gessi researched Absheron
natural associated gas from a scientific point of view and defined
its composition.
1801 First coal powered steam engine
1803 Offshore oil extraction reported in Bibi-Heybat Bay of the
Caspian Sea (Azerbaijan) from two hand-dug wells 18 and 30
meters away from the shoreline. The first offshore oil field
ceased existence in 1825 when a huge storm ravaged all wells in
the Caspian.
1807  Streets of London lit by coal oil.
1814  One of the first wells that produced oil which was marketed was
drilled near Marietta, Ohio, in 1814 (Hildreth 1833, p. 64). Well
was actually drilled for salt water, the oil was a useless by-
product which often spoiled the well. This Ohio well was almost
500 feet deep and produced about a barrel or so of oil per week,
which was worth about 50 - 75 cents/gallon.
1816 Start of the US manufactured gas industry - the Gas Light
Company of Baltimore
1818 In southeastern Kentucky another salt well produced oil. It was
known as the "Beatty Well," named after the owner of the land
on which it was drilled (Shepherd 1988). The site is on the banks
of the South Fork of the Cumberland River, and the well-
produced upwards of 100 barrels/day according to some reports.
By 1820, oil from this well was being shipped to Europe as well
as several other southern states. Thus the Beatty Well seems to
be the first drilled well which produced commercial oil in North
America.
1825 First commercial natural gas production and use in Fredonia,
New York - well drilled to7' by William Aaron Hart, gas piped
through hollow logs to adjacent houses.
1837 Autun, France - first attempts to mine oil shale, mines were
closed in 1957
1846  Baku the first ever well drilled with percussion tools to a depth of
21 metres for oil exploration.
1849 Abraham Gesner developed a method for distilling kerosene
 from crude oil.
1857 Development of the kerosene lamp - provided clean burning
light 
Preston Barmore drilled two gaswells on Canadaway Creek near
Fredonia, NY - used an 8-pound charge of gunpowder at a depth
of 122' to 'frack' the well - the first record of artificial fracturing.
First drilling of oil wells at Bend, northeast of Bucharest, on the
Romanian side of the Carpathians  
1858  First oil well in North America at Oil Springs in Ontario,
Canada 
1859 Col. Edwin Drake struck oil 69ft below the surface of the ground
in Titusville, Pennsylvania
1861 First recorded shipping of oil between countries - from
Pennsylvania to London on the sailing ship 'Elizabeth Watts' 
1862 de Rochas of France patented the four stroke engine
1863 J.D.Rockefeller founded an oil refining company in Cleveland 
1870 J.D.Rockerfeller formed Standard Oil (Ohio).- controlled 10% of
American oil refining 
1872  Rockerfeller took over 22 of his competitors (The Cleveland
Massacre) to increase Standard Oil share of market to 25% 
1877 Rockerfeller controlled 90% of American refining 
1878 First oil drilling at Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela
1879 Thomas Edison invents the electric light bulb 
1882 Standard Oil Trust formed 
1885 Oil discovered in Sumatra by Royal Dutch 
1892 Standard Oil Company of Ohio broken up by Federal Regulators 
1893 First well drilled in Los Angeles 

1895 Extraction of bitumen from bituminous sand using hot water at

Carpenteria, California 
John D. Rockerfeller retired 
Invention of combustion engine 
1896  Henry Ford's first motor car  
1901 Spindletop gusher, blew out on January 10, 1901 near Beaumont
in East Texas, drilled by Captain Anthony Lucas it heralded the
birth of the Texas oil industry - Gulf and Texaco. 
1902 Ida Tarbell begins campaign against the monopoly and
questionable practices of the Standard Oil Trust - published a
series of articles in McClure's Magazine (1902-1904) 
1903 Wright Brothers first flight 
1903 Ford Motor Company founded 
1905 Baku oilfields set on fire during Russian Revolution
1906 Federal Government filed suit against Standard Oil under the
Antitrust Act.
1907 Shell (British) and Royal Dutch merged to form Royal Dutch
Shell 
1908 Oil discovered in Persia, Anglo Persian Oil company formed
(Later BP) 
1910 First oil discovery in Mexico at Tampico on the Gulf Coast 
1910  US Congress authorised legislation to set aside land as Naval
Petroleum Reserves. 
1910 Lakeview gusher blew out near Los Angeles, CA, reportedly at
rates of >100,000BOPD with a total of 9,000,000 Bbls oil
released before the well was brought under control 
1911 Break up of Standard Oil Trust orderd by Supreme Court
1912 Land in California (Elk Hills and Buena Vista Hills) as Naval
Petroleum Reserves No. 1 & 2. 
1914-1918  World War I, the first conflict where control of oil supply really
mattered - needed for tanks, ships and planes. British Forces
captured Baghdad in 1917
1915  Teapot Dome Wyoming established as Naval Petroleum Reserve
No. 3
1916 Naval Oil Shale Reserves established in Colorado and Utah 
1921 First experiment of using seismic waves to image the subsrface -
at Vines Branch in south central Oklahoma by William Haseman,
Clarence Karcher, Irvine Perrine and Daniel Ohern 
1924 Teapot Dome scandal - political manipulation in providing
'friends' with the right to develop the US Naval Oil Reserves
resulted in the resignation of the Secretary of the Interior (Albert
Fall) and Secretary of the Navy (Edwin Denby). 
1929 Start of Great Depression 
1930  East Texas Oilfield discovered by 'Dad' Joiner 
1931 Conrad and Marcel Schlumberger sucessfully identify presence
of oil in a formation by measuring resistivity 
1932 Oil discovered in Bahrain
1933 Saudi Arabia granted oil concessions to Standard of California -
became California Arabian Standard Oil Company (Casoc)
1934 The first floating drilling rig reported in the Caspian Sea
1933  The Texas Company introduced the first submersible drilling
barge which was used in the estuaries (Lake Pelto) Louisiana
1936 Texaco took a 50% share in Casoc
1938 Mexico nationalizes foreign oil companies, all assets placed
under the control of Pemex
1938 Oil discoverd in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia
1939-1945 World War II - control of oil supply from Baku and Middle East
played a huge role in the events of the war and the ultimate
victory of the allies. Cutting off the oil supply considerably
weakened Japan in the latter part of the war.
1941 An inclined (slanted) well to the depth of 2000 metres was
drilled by drilling master Aga Neymatulla's team with turbodrill
method on Bayil settlement (near Baku)
1942 Japan invaded Indonesia for access to their oil reserves
1944 Casoc became Aramco (Arabian American Oil Company)

1947 Kerr McGee brings in the first producing oil well on the Outer
Continental Shelf off Louisiana 
1948 Ghawar Field discovered in Saudi Arabia - the largest
conventional oil field in the world (about 80 billion barrels) 
1949 First offshore oil drilling at Oil Rocks (Neft Dashlari) in the
Caspian Sea off Azerbaijan eventually resulted in a city built on
pylons
1950 Aramco agreement with Saudi Arabia 
1951 Anglo Iranian Oil Company nationalized 
1954 Anglo-Persian Oil Company renamed British Petroleum
1955 Egypt nationalised the Suez Canal 
1956  Suez Crisis - Britain, France and Israel attempted to regain
control of Suez Canal
1956  Oil discovered in Algeria and Nigeria 
1959 Natural gas discovered in Groningen Field, Netherlands
1959 Arab Oil Congress in Cairo - a 'gentleman's agreement' for oil
producing countries to have a greater influence on oil production
and marketing.
1960 OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) founded
in Baghdad - Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Kuwait, Iraq, and Iran.
1964 Start-up of Colony Oil Shale project in Colorado, USA - to
extract oil from immature source rocks
1967 Six day War between Israel and the Arab world, Suez Canal
 closed
1967 Great Canadian Oil Sands Ltd (later Suncor) began production of
tar sands north of Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada - first
commercial production of the largest oil resource in the world.
1968 Oil discovered on North slope of Alaska
1969 Qaddafi seizes power in Libya
1969 Santa Barbara oil spill, 6 miles offshore from Summerland,
California. Created major backlash against industry.
1969 Oil discovered in North Sea
1971  Libya, Saudi Arabia, Algeria and Iraq negotiate price increase
from $2.55 to $3.45 per barrel
1971 OPEC Countries begin nationalising oil assets. - Libya
nationalizes BP concession
1971 US oil production peaked
1972  Iraq nationalizes Iraq Petroleum Concession
1973 Iran nationalizes oil assets
1973 Saudi Government acquired a 25% interest in Aaramco
1973 Yom Kippur War - Egypt and Syria attacked Israel
1973 Arab oil embargo on oil exports to the US for siding with Israel
in the Yom Kippur War - oil prices rise from $2.90 to $11.65.
1974 Arab oil embargo on oil exports to the US lifted
1975 Venezuelan oil industry nationalised
1975 First oil production from North Sea
1975 Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) authorised in US - to store an
emergency supply of oil in salt domes
1976 Elk Hills Naval Petroleum Reserve, California opened for
commercial production
1977 Alaska oil pipeline completed
1978 Amoco Cadiz runs aground off French Coast
1978 Natural Gas Policy Act in United States – provided incentives or
de-controlled pricing for certain types of gas deemed to be high
cost – including ‘Tight Gas’ 
1979 First significant coalbed methane drilling by Amoco in San Juan
Basin, USA
 1979 Shah of Iran deposed, Ayatollah Khomeini takes power
1979 Three Mile Island - Nuclear power plant accident
1979   Saddam Hussein becomes President of Iraq
1979 - (June) Blowout at Ixtoc 1 in the Bay of Campeche in the Gulf of
Mexico - brought under control in March 1980 - largest single oil
 spill
1979- Iran takes US hostages
November
1979-1981  Oil prices rise from $13.00 to $34.00
 1980 Saudis bought out the balance of Aramco from US oil companies
1980  Crude Oil Windfall Profits Act in United States – included an
unconventional gas tax credit – provided tax credit when oil
prices were low to reduce the chance of gas consumers switching
to oil
1980 Iraq launches war against Iran
1982  OPEC's first quotas
1982 Exxon shuts down Colony project in Colorado - intended to
extract oil from immature oil shale
1984 Gulf Oil acquired by Chevron after a bidding war with Arco
1986  Oil prices collapse
1986 Chernobyl - Nuclear power plant accident
 1986 - 1987  "Tanker War" between Iran and Iraq - destroying oil tankers in
Persian Gulf
1987 Naval Oil Shale Reserve transferred to the Ute Indians
1988 Cease fire in Iran-Iraq War
1988 - July 6 Explosion at Piper Alpha North Sea oil and gas production
platform operated by Occidental Petroleum (Caledonia) Ltd. The
explosion and resulting fire destroyed the platform, killing 167
men, with only 59 survivors. At the time of the disaster the
platform accounted for approximately ten percent of North Sea
oil and gas production, and was the worst offshore oil disaster in
terms of lives lost and industry impact.
 1989 - March Exxon Valdez aground in Prince William Sound, Alaska
1990 - August Iraq invades Kuwait, UN embargo on Iraq
1991- Soviet Union collapses 
November
1995  UN resolution to allow partial resumption of Iraq oil exports in
"oil for food" deal.
1997  Qatar inaugurates the world's first significant liquid natural gas
(LNG) exporting facility
1997 Kyoto Agreement proposed to limit greenhouse gases
 1998  Asian economic crisis
1998  50 year moratorium on mining and oil exploration in Antarctica
approved
1998 Elk Hills Naval Petroleum Reserve sold to Occidental Petroleum
for $3.65 billion.
1998 BP announces plans to acquire Amoco for $48.2 billion
1998 Exxon to acquire Mobil for $75.4 billion
 1999 Atlantic Richfield (Arco) acquired by BPAmoco
1999 US Sanctions against Libya lifted
 1999  Total Fina and Elf Aquitaine agree to merge
 1999  Panama Canal reverts to Panamanian authority
2001 - Terrorist attacks on the United States
September
11th
2002 Construction started on Bosphorus bypass pipeline bringing oil
from Baku to the Mediterranean
 2002 Conoco and Phillips merged to form ConocoPhillips.
2002  US threatens invasion of Iraq to stop development of WMD's
(Weapons of Mass Destruction).
2002 - UN weapons inspectors return to Iraq
(November) 
2002 - Oil tanker Prestige sunk off NW coast of Spain
(November)
 2002 - Chevron-Texaco planning LNG receiving facility on Gulf Coast
(December)  (800Mmcf/d increasing to 1.6Bcf/d)
 2002 - National strike in Venezuela shuts down Venezuelan oil
(December)  production
2003 - BP to purchase 50% interest in TNK - the 4th largest Russian oil
(February) company
2003 Talisman sells holdings in Sudan following pressure from civil
rights groups.
2003 US Senate rejects proposal to allow oil exploration in the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in northern Alaska
2003 - (March US led invasion of Iraq begins - to overthrow Saddam Hussein
19-20)  and prevent the spread of WMD's.
2003 - (April US take Baghdad 
9)
2003 - (May Alan Greenspan acknowledges that the low level of natural gas
21) supplies is "a very serious problem" in a Presentation to
Congress' Joint Economic Committee.
 2003 - (Aug Major electrical failure causes blackout in New York State and
14) Ontario
 2003 - (Sept) Mikhail Khodorkovsky, CEO of Yukos Oil Co (largest Russian
oil company) arrested
2003 (Dec 23) Sour gas blow-out in Chongqing, SW China, kills 234 people
2004 (Jan 20) Explosion at an LNG plant in Algeria halts oil production
 2004 (July) US oil imports at a record 11.3MMBO per day
2004 - (Nov) George Bush re-elected President in USA
2004 (Oct 25) Oil at a record price of $55.67 US per barrel on concerns over
high demand and possible supply disruptions in the Middle East
and damage on the Gulf Coast from Hurricane Ivan
2004 (Dec) Re-nationalising of Russian oil industry continued with Rosneft
acquiring the largest unit of OAO Yukos Oil Co. Yukos has been
forced into bankruptcy due to non-payment of taxes.
2004  Oil production in UK sector of North Sea declined by 10% in
2004
2005 (Mar 30)  Goldman Sachs suggest oil could spike to $105 US per barrel
2005 (Mar 23) Explosion at BP's Texas City Refinery kills 15 people and injures
170 others
2005 (Mar 31) Oil briefly exceeds $58 US per barrel on continued strong
demand and concern over supply
2005 (Apr 4) Chevron-Texaco offer to buy Unocal Corp for $16.4 Billion
2005 (Apr) Gulf Gateway Energy Bridge Deepwater Port opened - the first
offshore LNG receiving facility and the first new LNG
regasification facility to be built in the USA in 20 years.
2005 (June China State Oil Co offers $18.5 Billion for Unocal Corp, (offer
23)  withdrawn in August).
2005 (July 4) First import of LNG to United Kingdom in 20 years as North Sea
natural gas production declines
2005 (July 7) Terrorist attacks in London - 4 bombs - 3 planted on
Underground, 1 on a London bus
2005 (July 24) Iran and Iraq sign a cooperative oil trading agreement
 2005 (Aug) Chevron Corp acquisition of Unocal Corp finalized
2005 (Aug 29) Hurricane Katrina strikes the Gulf Coast of the US with
devastating results
2005 (Aug 29) Oil reaches $70.80 US per Bbl.
2005 (Sept) The 1770 km long Baku-Tbilisi-Jeyhan (BTJ or BTC) oil
pipeline began operation at the Sangachal Oil Terminal in Baku.
The second longest oil pipeline in the world after Russia's
"Druzhba.
2005 (Sept 19) Natural gas (NYMEX) at all time high of $12.33US on fears of
 new storm approaching Gulf of Mexico.
2005 (Sept 23) Hurricane Rita strikes Gulf Coast
2005 (Dec 13) Natural gas price hits a record high of $15.65US/mmbtu in the
United States
And Conoco Philips and Burlington Resources to merge in a deal
valued at $35.6US Billion.
 2006 Russia attempts to penalise the Ukraine by blocking