Pennsylvania crude oil from the Bradford Oil Field in Bradford, Pennsylvania, was first extracted in 1859
Drake began drilling for oil for Seneca Oil Co, but at first met with little success. He used an old steam engine to drill.and most of his drilling sites only yielded trace amounts of oil. He endured fires, financial setbacks, and the ridicule of the local inhabitants. When the Seneca Oil Company gave up and decided to withdraw its funding, Drake obtained a personal line of credit to continue digging. On August 27, 1859, Drake struck oil at 69 feet below ground, just before his funds ran out. This is considered the "first large-scale commercial extraction of petroleum".
Unfortunately for Drake, his success would not last. He had not purchased much land in the region, and the oil industry exploded around him outside of his control. His well yielded only modest returns and he was fired by Seneca Oil Co. He never patented the drilling method he pioneered, and lost his modest earnings from the oil business speculating on Wall Street. He died a poor pensioner in 1880
Annual domestic output of crude swelled from 2,000 barrels in 1859, the year of Drake’s “discovery,” to 10,000,000 barrels in 1873
Petroleum jumped from the sixth most valuable US export to the second most valuable during this period. At the peak of the oil boom, Pennsylvania wells were producing one third of the world’s oil.
But 1892 was the last year that Pennsylvania wells provided a majority of the oil produced in the US, and in 1895, Ohio surpassed Pennsylvania as an oil producer. By 1907, the decline of the Pennsylvania fields and the great discoveries made in Texas, California, and Oklahoma, left Pennsylvania with less than 10% of the nation's oil production.
The Sun Oil Company began in 1886 as the Peoples Natural Gas Company in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,its partners decided to expand their gas business with a stake in the new oil discoveries in Ohio, and Sun Oil diversified quickly, active in production and distribution of oil as well as processing and marketing gasoline. By 1901, the company was incorporated in New Jersey as Sun Company and turned its interest to the new Spindletop field in Texas.
Wolf's Head dates back to 1879 and was one of the original oil brands in Pennsylvania. Pennzoil acquired the company in the early sixties. When Shell bought Pennzoil they sold the Wolf's Head brand to Amalie Oil in Tampa
Pennzoil was never Pennsylvanian. It was founded in Los Angeles, California in 1913. In 1955, it was bought by South Penn Oil, a former branch of Standard Oil. In 1963, South Penn Oil merged with Zapata Petroleum, and during the 1970s, the company moved its offices to Houston, Texas.
Quaker State is an American brand of motor oil produced by SOPUS Products, a division of Royal Dutch Shell, and the successor of the Pennzoil-Quaker State Company.
Amalie founded in Franklin, PA, in 1903 by the Sonneborn brothers. It was one of the original "Pennsylvania Crude" oil companies. Amalie was quick to develop a steadfast reputation for high-quality, well-engineered petroleum products. In 1953, Amalie was the first oil company to introduce a multi-grade motor oil: Imperial 10W30.
Kendall doesn't have a wikipedia page, and probably because the history isn't simple. 3 partners witnessed an 1875 oil well gusher, and decided to go into business together to make a refinery.
By 1881, they founded Bradford’s first refinery: a business-deal that has kept the oil town prospering for over a century. The Bradford Oil Refinery, remains the oldest functioning petroleum refinery in the world. In 1902, the Penn Lubricating Co. purchased the dilapidated refinery
In 1913 was the incorporation of the Kendall Refining Company, which became the first producer of motor oil to extend oil change intervals from the average 500 miles, to the greatly improved 2000 miles. The Bradford Refinery, which was later renamed the Kendall Refinery was sold to the Witco Chemical company in 1966, and produced both the Kendall and Amalie oil lines.
http://progress-is-fine.blogspot.com/2016/12/wolfs-head-oil.html
https://www.penngrade.com/about-us/
http://www.amalie.com/About-Us
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennzoil
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunoco
http://www.kendallmotoroils.com/history/
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