Page 7 - Oil and Gas Production Handbook An Introduction to Oil and Gas Production

1 Introduction

Oil has been used for lighting purposes for many thousands of years. In
areas where oil is found in shallow reservoirs, seeps of crude oil or gas may
naturally develop, and some oil could simply be collected from seepage or
tar ponds.

Historically, we know of the tales of eternal fires where oil and gas seeps
would ignite and burn. One example from is the site where the famous oracle
of Delphi was built around 1000 B.C. Written sources from 500 B.C. describe
how the Chinese used natural gas to boil water.

But it was not until 1859 that "Colonel" Edwin Drake drilled the first
successful oil well, with the sole purpose of finding oil. The Drake Well was
located in the middle of quiet farm country in north-western Pennsylvania,
and began the international search for an industrial use of petroleum.

Photo: Drake Well Museum Collection, Titusville, PA

These wells were shallow by modern standards, often less than 50 meters
deep, but produced large quantities of oil. In the picture from the Tarr Farm,
Oil Creek Valley, The Phillips well on the right initially produced 4000 barrels
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