History of petroleum History (Research Paper Sample)

History of the Petroleum Industry
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Introduction
The discovery of underground oil first made was by the Chinese in salt wells. 500 years before Christ in the history explains how wells got dug at Tibetan border by the Chinese. These wells were about 100feet deep and contained a mixture of water, natural gases and oil. Later, the Chinese constructed pipelines to draw the oil and the gases from the well. The usage was for lighting. By the time, it was 1500 A.D they managed to dig more than 2000 feet dip. During 13th century, oil gets discovered in Persia. By the time, it was 1590’s pits got dug for extracting oil from the surface. In 1650, an oil reservoir discovered at Romania in Europe. This site then was the source of oil in Europe. For more than 200 years, Europe was the first world’s refinery of oil (Clark, 1946).
600 million years ago, a believe that decayed plants and remnants of animals are the main constituents of petroleum. These remains are microscopic plankton, responsible for the production of the high carbon in petroleum. This organic carbon contains tiny grained sediments known as Chattanooga shale. This is the principle origin rock for petroleum. Therefore, petroleum is an oil product known throughout history. During the early days, petroleum usage was to coat walls, boat hulls and during the warfare as the fire weapon. Some of the Americans used it as medicine, magic and paint maker. During the 19th century, it got scooped from holes dug underground in Europe. In 1815 street lambs used petroleum as fuel in Prague.
During 1859 in Pennsylvania, Edwin Clarke dug a well of oil in creek valley, which became a commercial service. The kerosene produced improved the market of lighting. Therefore, after the incidence everyone got carried up since it was free by then. During the exploration, people did not have the knowledge concerning geology. This brought about confusion to residents of the place. The sale and trade of the product was chaotic since whatever produced was not quality and refined. Thus, storing the petroleum fuel was risky. The government never existed and this made it harder and non safe for the trade. Many companies ventured into the market making the price of crude oil to lower (Francisco, 2004).
Later in 1863, John Rockefeller invested in refining companies located in Cleveland. After nine years, he had taken control of more than 20 out of 26 oil refineries located only in Cleveland. He realized the only way to take control of the industry would be through refining. John thought of a way of controlling the business by doing away with the waste duplication. In a span of no time, he had expanded the refineries to other town cities and states. He managed to expand the business by buying out all the competitors. By this time production, marketing and transportation could take place through his supervision. 1n 1890, Rockefeller refining company, had taken 90% control in United States. He managed to rise, because the products produced were quality such that the pubic depended on them. He named his company as the standard oil company. Standard Oil Company became a monopoly company. An act known as Sherman Anti- trust broke the control Rockefeller had on the industry.
World foremost oil companies
During those days, everyone in United States took control of all mineral that could be in his/ her property. In other countries, the government took control of any accessible mineral found. Therefore, the position many countries managed was crude production and not refining. There existed only seven refining companies, where five biggest got located in united states. In 1956, Nigeria discovered oil along the Niger delta at a place called Oloibiri. Shell- BP was the co founders of the mineral. In 1958, the oil in Nigeria first production took place. This gave Nigeria the rights to join trade onshore and offshore. In 1972, the main crude oil exporting countries in Middle East had started gaining power, wealth and experts from everywhere the world since 1900. Therefore, establishment of an organization called Petroleum exporting countries pioneered. In 1971, Nigeria joined the organization of petroleum exporting companies. The organization began to be used as the consultation and control centre of oil prices. Back in 1940’s and 50’s, some of the companies had taken a lead in controlling their products and not collaborating with seven companies known as seven sisters. These companies are; the New Jersey standard oil which became Esso, New York Exxon standard oil became Mobil, Texaco, Gulf, Royal Dutch, California standard oil now Chevron and British Petroleum (BP).
Production of oil had dominated in U.S Russia and Dutch East Indies during the 20th century. The exploration started in Iran, seconded by Turkey. In 1930’s oil discovered in Kuwait and ten years later a discovery in Ghawar of Saudi Arabia, which remains the largest oil field. Thus, after the end of world war two, a joint oil enterprise made between America and Saudi Arabia creating conglomerates. For instance, Casco, Caltex, Esso and Mobil joined the California standard oil company and formed Aramco (Vassiliou, 2009).
Modern oil industry
In 1972, ...