Re: How is oil first discovered?

Dear Dale:

I can see two possible interpretations of your question, and I will try to answer both. First, you might mean how is oil discovered in a new place. Second, you might mean how was oil discovered the very first time. I think this is probably what you mean, and I'll answer this first.

Oil has been known about for so long that nobody knows when it was discovered. Oil seeps out of the ground in many places around the world, and so our remote ancestors must have discovered it many thousands of years ago. When they learned that it could be burned is also a mystery, but this must have been after the discovery of fire, and before the dawn of recorded history. I would guess at least 10,000 years ago. Because oil seeps out of the ground everyone knew that it came from somewhere underground. The first person who thought of drilling for oil in the U.S. (also the first in the world) was thought to be a little crazy. His name was Drake, and his well was called "Drake's Folly." Until he struck oil, that is! This well was drilled in the state of Pennsylvania in 1859.

As for the other question you might have been asking, for the next 60 or 70 years after the Drake well was drilled, people knew they could drill for oil, but not much about how to decide where to drill. In the last 75 years or so, many new techniques have been developed to help people learn where oil is before they drill. They study rock structure and rock type, age of the rocks, the history of an area, and also use gravity, magnetics, and sound to make images of what the inside of the earth is like. They use sensitive equipment to "sniff" for oil chemicals leaking out at the surface above oil accumulations. Many wells are still "dry holes," but every year we learn more about how to find oil.

If you have any more questions, please ask!
David