Editing Petroleum (section)

===19th century===
[[File:West Lothian shale bing, Scotland.JPG|thumb|Shale [[spoil tip|bings]] near [[Broxburn]], three of a total of 19 in [[West Lothian]], Scotland]]
[[File:Ride with hitler.jpg|thumb|A [[World War II]] poster promoting [[carpooling]] as a way to ration vital gasoline during the war]]

There was activity in various parts of the world in the mid-19th century. A group directed by Major Alexeyev of the Bakinskii Corps of Mining Engineers hand-drilled a well in the Baku region of Bibi-Heybat in 1846.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Matveichuk |first=Alexander A |date=2004 |title=Intersection of Oil Parallels: Historical Essays |journal=Russian Oil and Gas Institute}}</ref> There were engine-drilled wells in West Virginia in 1859, the same year as Drake's well.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=McKain |first1=David L. |title=Where It All Began: The Story of the People and Places Where the Oil Industry Began – West Virginia and South-eastern Ohio |last2=Bernard |first2=L. Allen |publisher=D.L. McKain |year=1994 |location=Parkersburg, WV |asin=B0006P93DY}}</ref> An early commercial well was hand dug in [[Poland]] in 1853, and another in nearby [[Romania]] in 1857. At around the same time the world's first, small, oil refinery was opened at [[Jasło]] in Poland (then Austria), with a larger one opened at [[Ploiești]] in Romania shortly after. Romania (then being a vassal of the Ottoman Empire) is the first country in the world to have had its annual crude oil output officially recorded in international statistics: 275 tonnes for 1857.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The History Of Romanian Oil Industry |url=http://www.rri.ro/arh-art.shtml?lang=1&sec=9&art=3596 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090603102058/http://www.rri.ro/arh-art.shtml?lang=1&sec=9&art=3596 |archive-date=June 3, 2009 |website=rri.ro}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Thomas Eakins |title=Scenes from Modern Life: World Events: 1844–1856 |url=https://www.pbs.org/eakins/we_1844.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170705142847/https://www.pbs.org/eakins/we_1844.htm |archive-date=July 5, 2017 |website=pbs.org}}</ref>

In 1858, Georg Christian Konrad Hunäus found a significant amount of petroleum while drilling for [[lignite]] in [[Wietze]], Germany. Wietze later provided about 80% of German consumption in the Wilhelmine Era.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Lucius |first=Robert von |date=June 23, 2009 |title=Deutsche Erdölförderung: Klein-Texas in der Lüneburger Heide |language=de |work=FAZ.NET |url=https://www.faz.net/1.812092 |url-status=live |access-date=March 18, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170126111737/https://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtschaft/deutsche-erdoelfoerderung-klein-texas-in-der-lueneburger-heide-1812092.html |archive-date=January 26, 2017 |issn=0174-4909}}</ref> The production stopped in 1963, but Wietze has hosted a Petroleum Museum since 1970.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Deutsches Erdölmuseum Wietze |url=http://www.erdoelmuseum.de/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171014171832/http://www.erdoelmuseum.de/ |archive-date=October 14, 2017 |access-date=March 18, 2018 |website=www.erdoelmuseum.de}}</ref>

Oil sands have been mined since the 18th century.<ref>{{Cite news |date=February 23, 1880 |title=The oil wells of Alsace; a discovery made more than a century ago. What a Pennsylvania operator saw abroad, primitive methods of obtaining oil, the process similar to that used in coal mining |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1880/02/23/98888884.pdf |url-status=live |access-date=June 15, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191218003110/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1880/02/23/98888884.pdf |archive-date=December 18, 2019}}</ref> In [[Wietze]] in lower Saxony, natural asphalt/bitumen has been explored since the 18th century.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Erdöl in Wietze |date=1994 |publisher=Geiger |isbn=978-3-89264-910-6 |edition=1. Aufl |location=Horb am Neckar |oclc=75489983}}</ref> Both in Pechelbronn as in Wietze, the coal industry dominated the petroleum technologies.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Karlsch |first1=Rainer |title=Faktor Öl: die Mineralölwirtschaft in Deutschland 1859–1974 |last2=Stokes |first2=Raymond G. |date=2003 |publisher=C.H. Beck |others=Stokes, Raymond G. |isbn=978-3-406-50276-7 |location=Munich |oclc=52134361}}</ref>

Chemist [[James Young (chemist)|James Young]] in 1847 noticed a natural petroleum seepage in the coal mine at riddings [[Alfreton]], [[Derbyshire]] from which he distilled a light thin oil suitable for use as lamp oil, at the same time obtaining a more viscous oil suitable for lubricating machinery. In 1848, Young set up a small business refining crude oil.<ref name="russell" />

Young eventually succeeded, by distilling [[cannel coal]] at low heat, in creating a fluid resembling petroleum, which when treated in the same way as the seep oil gave similar products. Young found that by slow distillation he could obtain several useful liquids from it, one of which he named "paraffine oil" because at low temperatures it congealed into a substance resembling paraffin wax.<ref name="russell">{{Cite book |last=Russell |first=Loris S. |title=A Heritage of Light: Lamps and Lighting in the Early Canadian Home |publisher=University of Toronto Press |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-8020-3765-7}}</ref>

The production of these oils and solid [[paraffin wax]] from coal formed the subject of his patent dated October 17, 1850. In 1850, Young & Meldrum and Edward William Binney entered into partnership under the title of E.W. Binney & Co. at [[Bathgate]] in [[West Lothian]] and E. Meldrum & Co. at Glasgow; their works at Bathgate were completed in 1851 and became the first truly commercial oil-works in the world with the first modern oil refinery.<ref>{{Cite web |last=By |first=Undiscovered Scotland |title=James Young: Biography on Undiscovered Scotland |url=http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/usbiography/y/jamesyoung.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170629094925/https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/usbiography/y/jamesyoung.html |archive-date=June 29, 2017 |access-date=March 18, 2018 |website=www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk}}</ref>
{{Clarify|date=December 2023|reason=the preceding statement seems to say the first modern refinery was completed in 1851; the subsequent statement says the first refinery was built in 1856: the distinction between these two types could be detailed for better comprehension}}

The world's first oil refinery was built in 1856 by [[Ignacy Łukasiewicz]] in Austria.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Frank, Alison Fleig |title=Oil Empire: Visions of Prosperity in Austrian Galicia (Harvard Historical Studies) |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-674-01887-7}}</ref> His achievements also included the discovery of how to distill kerosene from seep oil, the invention of the modern [[kerosene lamp]] (1853), the introduction of the first modern street lamp in Europe (1853), and the construction of the world's first modern [[oil well|oil "mine"]] (1854).<ref>{{Cite web |date=May 19, 2007 |title=Skansen Przemysłu Naftowego w Bóbrce / Museum of Oil Industry at Bobrka |url=http://www.geo.uw.edu.pl/BOBRKA/DATY/daty.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070519031720/http://www.geo.uw.edu.pl/BOBRKA/DATY/daty.htm |archive-date=May 19, 2007 |access-date=March 18, 2018}}</ref> at [[Bóbrka, Krosno County|Bóbrka]], near [[Krosno]] (still operational as of 2020).

The demand for petroleum as a fuel for lighting in [[North America]] and around the world quickly grew.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Maugeri |first=Leonardo |url=https://archive.org/details/ageofoilmytholog0000maug/page/3 |title=The age of oil: the mythology, history, and future of the world's most controversial resource |date=2005 |publisher=Lyons Press |isbn=978-1-59921-118-3 |edition=1st Lyons Press |location=Guilford, CN |page=[https://archive.org/details/ageofoilmytholog0000maug/page/3 3] |oclc=212226551 |url-access=registration}}</ref>

The first oil well in the Americas was drilled in 1859 by [[Edwin Drake]] at what is now called the [[Drake Well]] in [[Cherrytree Township, Pennsylvania]]. There also was a company associated with it, and it sparked a major oil drilling boom.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Vassiliou |first=Marius S. |title=Historical dictionary of the petroleum industry, 2nd Edition |date=2018 |publisher=Rowman and Littlefield |isbn=978-1-5381-1159-8 |location=Lanham, MD |page=621 |oclc=315479839}}</ref>

The [[History of the petroleum industry in Canada#Early origins|first commercial oil well]] in [[Canada]] became operational in 1858 at [[Oil Springs, Ontario]] (then [[Canada West]]).<ref name="lclmg.org">[http://www.lclmg.org/lclmg/Museums/OilMuseumofCanada/BlackGold2/OilHeritage/OilSprings/tabid/208/Default.aspx Oil Museum of Canada, Black Gold: Canada's Oil Heritage, Oil Springs: Boom & Bust] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130729191500/http://www.lclmg.org/lclmg/Museums/OilMuseumofCanada/BlackGold2/OilHeritage/OilSprings/tabid/208/Default.aspx |date=July 29, 2013 }}</ref> Businessman [[James Miller Williams]] dug several wells between 1855 and 1858 before discovering a rich reserve of oil four metres below ground.<ref>Turnbull Elford, Jean. "Canada West's Last Frontier". Lambton County Historical Society, 1982, p. 110</ref>{{Specify|reason=Unlear citation style.|date=December 2018}} Williams extracted 1.5&nbsp;million litres of crude oil by 1860, refining much of it into kerosene lamp oil. Williams's well became commercially viable a year before Drake's Pennsylvania operation and could be argued to be the first commercial oil well in North America.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Oil Museum of Canada, Black Gold: Canada's Oil Heritage |url=http://www.lclmg.org/lclmg/Museums/OilMuseumofCanada/BlackGold2/OilHeritage/OilSprings/tabid/208/Default.aspx |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130729191500/http://www.lclmg.org/lclmg/Museums/OilMuseumofCanada/BlackGold2/OilHeritage/OilSprings/tabid/208/Default.aspx |archive-date=July 29, 2013 |website=lclmg.org}}</ref> The discovery at Oil Springs touched off an [[oil boom]] which brought hundreds of speculators and workers to the area. Advances in drilling continued into 1862 when local driller Shaw reached a depth of 62 metres using the spring-pole drilling method.<ref>{{Cite book |last=May |first=Gary |title=Hard oiler!: the story of Canadiansʼ quest for oil at home and abroad |date=1998 |publisher=Dundurn Press |isbn=978-1-55002-316-9 |location=Toronto |page=43 |oclc=278980961}}</ref> On January 16, 1862, after an explosion of [[natural gas]], Canada's first oil gusher came into production, shooting into the air at a recorded rate of {{convert|3000|oilbbl|m3|order=flip}} per day.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ford |first=R.W. A |title=History of the Chemical Industry in Lambton County |year=1988 |page=5}}</ref> By the end of the 19th century the Russian Empire, particularly the [[Branobel]] company in [[Azerbaijan]], had taken the lead in production.<ref name="Akiner">{{cite book |editor1=Akiner, Shirin |editor2=Aldis, Anne |title=The Caspian: Politics, Energy and Security |publisher=Routledge |year=2004 |location=New York |isbn=978-0-7007-0501-6|page=5}}
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