History of the petroleum industry

The history of the petroleum industry traces the development of oil exploration, extraction, refining, and trade from early uses to a global energy business.

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Petroleum in antiquity: The use of naturally seeping petroleum in ancient societies for construction, lighting, medicine, and warfare. Ancient uses show that petroleum had value long before industrial drilling.
Oil well: A borehole drilled or otherwise created to extract petroleum from underground formations. The oil well became the central means of industrial petroleum production.
Internal combustion engine: An engine that releases energy by burning fuel inside a combustion chamber. Its spread created mass demand for gasoline and diesel.
Coal industry: The extraction, processing, and trade of coal for energy and industrial use. Coal powered earlier industrialization, while petroleum became central to engines and transport.
Peak oil: The point at which global petroleum production reaches its maximum rate before entering a sustained decline. Debates about peak oil have repeatedly shaped forecasts of scarcity and supply.
Baku oil fields: Oil-producing fields around Baku, in present-day Azerbaijan, exploited for centuries and industrialized in the nineteenth century. Baku’s longstanding oil production formed an early center of commercial extraction.
Rotary drilling: A drilling method that cuts rock with a rotating bit while circulating fluid removes cuttings and supports the borehole. Rotary drilling enabled deeper, faster access to oil-bearing formations.
World War I: A global war fought from 1914 to 1918 among the Allied and Central Powers. The war demonstrated petroleum’s strategic value to mechanized armies and navies.
Natural gas industry: The production, processing, transport, and sale of naturally occurring gaseous hydrocarbons. Natural gas developed alongside oil, but requires different handling and distribution systems.
Stranded assets: Assets that lose value or become unusable before the end of their expected economic life. Climate policy and changing demand could leave petroleum infrastructure underused.