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Oil wells are drilled in China
Oil wells were drilled in China up to 800 feet deep using bits attached to bamboo poles. -
Oil sands were mined in France
Oil sands were mined and the oil extracted at Pechelbronn field in Alsace, France. -
drilled wells by the Brothers David and Joseph Ruffner
A 58-ft well was drilled using a spring pole in the Kanawha Valley of West Virginia by the brothers David and Joseph Ruffner to produce brine. The well takes 18 months to drill. -
In the United States oil was produced in Pennsylvania
Oil was produced in United States as an undesirable by-product from brine wells in Pennsylvania. -
First modern oil well
First modern oil well was drilled in Asia, on the Aspheron Peninsula north-east of Baku, by Russian engineer F.N. Semyenov. -
Oil was distilled in Los Angeles to produce lamp oil
Oil from hand-dug pits in California at Los Angeles was distilled to produce lamp oil by General Andreas Pico. -
1860s to 1890s - Tar Pits and Tunnels
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Period: to
California Comes of Age
1861-First oil well in California was drilled manually in Humboldt County.
1875-First commercial oil field in California was discovered at Pico Canyon in Los Angeles County.
1888-A steel-hulled tanker sails from Ventura to San Francisco, eleven years after the 1877 sailing of a Russian tanker across the Caspian sea at Baku.
1899-Kern River oil field propels Kern County to top oil-producing region in state was discovered in 1899 -
San Joaquin Valley.
Tar was mined from open pits at Asphalto (McKittrick) on westside of San Joaquin Valley. -
Period: to
1890s to 1920s - Gushers and Cable Tools
1896 - Shamrock Gusher blows in at McKittrick and hastens end of tar mining operations.
1902 - Arrival of railroad makes development of Midway-Sunset field economically feasible.
1919 - Hay No. 7 catches fire at Elk Hills and becomes America's greatest gas gusher.
1929 - Blowout prevention equipment was became mandatory on oil and gas wells drilled in California. -
Old Sunset
Old Sunset (Maricopa) part of Midway-Sunset has 16 wells that were used to produce 30 barrels of oil per day. -
Period: to
1930s to 1950s - Well Logs, Seismic, and Rotary Drilling
1936 - First seismic exploration in California was discovered in Ten Section field near Bakersfield. Seismic discovery of the productive Paloma and Coles Levee anticlines soon follows -
Deepest well in the world
1953 - Deepest well in the world was Richfield 67-29 drilled to 17,895 feet at North Coles Levee. -
Period: to
1960s to Today - Steam, Horizontal Wells, and Computers
1997 - Deepest horizontal well was made in Kern County is Yolwumne 91X-3 with measured depth of 14,300 feet.
1990s - 3D-seismic data and 3D-computer modeling of reservoirs bring new life to old fields.
1998 - A blowout and oil well fire at the Bellevue #1 wildcat in the East Lost Hills subthrust fuels hopes for the first major Kern County discovery in over a decade. -
Kern County.
Tule Elk and Yowlumne fields become the last 100-million barrel fields was discovered in Kern County.
