Oil or petroleum (also known as crude oil) is a fossil fuel found largely in vast underground deposits. Oil and its byproducts (natural gas, gasoline, kerosene, asphalt, and fuel oil, among others) did not have any real economic value until the middle of the nineteenth century when drilling was first used as a method to obtain it. Today, oil is produced on every continent but Antarctica. Despite increasingly sophisticated methods of locating possible deposits and improved removal techniques, oil is still obtained by drilling.
By the 1850s, crude oil was still obtained by skimming it off the tops of ponds. Since oil from whales was becoming scarce as the giant mammals were hunted almost to extinction, oil producers began to look elsewhere to extract oil. In 1859, while working for the Seneca Oil Company in Titusville, Pennsylvania, Edwin L. Drake and his crew drilled the first modern oil well. They struck oil almost 70 feet (21 meters) down. America's oil boom, and the world's oil industry, was launched.
History
Oil was known in the ancient world and had several uses. Usually found bubbling up to Earth's surface at what are called oil seeps, oil was used primarily for lighting, as a lubricant, for caulking ships (making them watertight), and for jointing masonry (for building). The Chinese knew and used oil as far back as the fourth century B.C.By the 1850s, crude oil was still obtained by skimming it off the tops of ponds. Since oil from whales was becoming scarce as the giant mammals were hunted almost to extinction, oil producers began to look elsewhere to extract oil. In 1859, while working for the Seneca Oil Company in Titusville, Pennsylvania, Edwin L. Drake and his crew drilled the first modern oil well. They struck oil almost 70 feet (21 meters) down. America's oil boom, and the world's oil industry, was launched.
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