The history of the European oil and gas industry reflects local as well as global political events, economic constraints and the personal endeavours of individual petroleum geoscientists as much as it does the development of technologies and the underlying geology of the region. The first commercial oil wells in Europe were drilled in Poland in 1853, Romania in 1857, Germany in 1859 and Italy in 1860. The 23 papers in this volume focus on the history and heritage of the oil and gas industry in the key European oil-producing countries from the earliest onshore drilling to its development into the modern industry that we know today. The contributors chronicle the main events and some of the major players that shaped the industry in Europe. The volume also marks several important anniversaries, including 150 years of oil exploration in Poland and Romania, the centenary of the drilling of the first oil well in the UK and 50 years of oil production from onshore Spain.

This edited volume discusses scientific and technological aspects of the history of the oil and gas industry in national and international contexts. The search for oil for industrial uses began in the nineteenth century, the first drills made in Azerbaijan and the United States. This intense search for a substance to become one of the most important energy sources was, many times, based on skill as well as luck, resulting in knowledge and the development of prospecting and exploration technologies. The demand for oil improved expertise in geological science, in areas such as micropaleontology, stratigraphy or sedimentology and informed different disciplines such as geophysics. These contributions made possible not only the discovery of new oil fields but also new applications and methods of exploration. Beyond the scientific and technological aspects, an industry that grew to such considerable size also impacted the political, economic, social, cultural, environmental and diplomatic issues in history. The book approaches these changes in different scales, countries, areas, and perspectives. This edited book appeals to researchers, student, practitioners in various fields from geology and geophysics to history. It is also an important resource for professionals in the oil and gas industry.

This book examines the role of Soviet energy during the Cold War. Based on hitherto little known documents from Western and Eastern European archives, it combines the story of Soviet oil and gas with general Cold War history. This volume breaks new ground by framing Soviet energy in a multi-national context, taking into account not only the view from Moscow, but also the perspectives of communist Eastern Europe, the US, NATO, as well as several Western European countries – namely Italy, France, and West Germany. This book challenges some of the long-standing assumptions of East-West bloc relations, as well as shedding new light on relations within the blocs regarding the issue of energy. By bringing together a range of junior and senior historians and specialists from Europe, Russia and the US, this book represents a pioneering endeavour to approach the role of Soviet energy during the Cold War in transnational perspective.

This volume examines the social history of oil workers and investigates how labor relations have shaped the global oil industry during the twentieth century and today. It brings together the work of scholars from a range of disciplines, approaching the social, political, economic and cultural dimensions of oil. The contributors analyze a number of key oil producing regions, including the Americas, the Middle East, Central Asia, the Caucasus, Europe and Africa.

Written by the leading expert in the history of UK energy, this study provides new, in-depth analysis of the development of UK petroleum policies towards the North Sea based on full access to the Government’s relevant archives.

This book applies a systems and risk perspective on international energy relations, author Per Högselius investigates how and why governments, businesses, engineers and other actors sought to promote – and oppose– the establishment of an extensive East-West natural gas regime that seemed to overthrow the fundamental logic of the Cold War.