The First Uses of Rotary Drilling for Petroleum
Petroleum was discovered far before the first rotary rig was around, but the rotary rig made drilling for crude oil commercially viable for the first time in history.
Seepages have been utilized in Asia
and the Middle East for at least
2000 years.
Drilling for oil started as an accidental occurce, when drillers were trying to dig water wells, or when they were drilling for salt.
It was not until the 1800's that drilling for oil was done to actually gather crude. The concept for drilling had stayed pretty much the same for centuries. his was done with a cable tool. A rod was raised, and then dropped into the wellbore.
The Effects of Seeps on the Environment- USGS Webpagehttp://geomaps.wr.usgs.gov/seeps/environment.html |
Edwin Drake and Seneca Oil drilled the first commercial well with this technology in 1859.
The use of rotary drills had been used since the early-mid 1800's for water well drilling. It was, then, shortly after the success of the petroleum industry, that this technology was put into use for the tapping into wells. The first well drilled to the source with a rotary rig was located at Spindletop, Texas, U.S.A.
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Spindletop Gusher |