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.

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Excerpt from The Evolution of the Oil Industry A glance at the chapter headings in this little book shows that it is an endeavour to present in succinct form a survey of a great and ever-expanding economic revolution - the interpenetration by petroleum of all industries, whether of the factory or the field, land or sea, war or peace. This phenomenon has been almost exclusively a development of the past six decades, and the United States of America have been the predominant factor in the innumerable changes wrought thereby. The narrative confines itself rigidly to historic records and material facts, undeniably romantic in themselves. But as the epic unfolds itself, it assumes a super-phase, the import of which cannot be measured by mere figures - a super-phase with invaluable applications to the problems of humanity in an industrial age. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

The petroleum industry is unique: it is an industry without which modern civilization would collapse. Despite the advances in alternative energy, petroleum’s role is still central. Petroleum still drives economics, geopolitics, and sometimes war. The history of petroleum is, to some measure, the history of the modern world. This book represents a concise but complete one-volume reference on the history of the petroleum industry from pre-modern times to the present day, covering all aspects of business, technology, and geopolitics. The book also presents an analysis of the future of petroleum, and a highly useful set of statistical graphs. Anyone interested in the history, status, and outlook for petroleum will find this book a uniquely valuable first place to look. This new second edition incorporates all the revolutionary changes in the petroleum landscape since the first edition was published, including the boom in extraction of oil and gas from shale formations using techniques such as fracking and horizontal drilling. This second edition of Historical Dictionary of the Petroleum Industry contains a chronology, an introduction, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 500 cross-referenced entries on companies, people, events, technologies, countries, provinces, cities, and regions related to the history of the world’s petroleum industry. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about the petroleum industry.