A Brief History of Booms and Busts: Part I

Born in Northampton in 1873 and known simply as ‘Beeby-Thompson’, his achievements were such that the foreword to his auto-biography was written by Herbert Hoover, 31st President of the USA

Enigmatic businessman, linked with oil companies and foreign governments, whose exploits offer a glimpse into the struggle for the control of oil.

45 years old and counting, SEAPEX has a proud history of supporting the oil and gas industry in South East Asia

As Britain fought for its survival during World War II, a team of American oil drillers found themselves on their way across the Atlantic to help the war effort. They became known as the 'roughnecks of Sherwood Forest'.

Oil exploration moved from the land to the sea only a few years after Titusville. Here we take a look at how offshore oil exploration in the Gulf of Mexico developed from 1869 to the early 1960s.

Oil Discoveries off the Arabian Shore

50 years on from the first oil and gas discoveries in the North Sea we celebrate this golden anniversary by looking back at this important center of oil and gas production, set in silver but often turbulent seas.

In this second part of the Standard Oil story, we profile John D. Rockefeller, the man who founded the world’s first large oil company, which was forced by the US anti-trust law to dissolve into several independent companies exactly one hundred years ago.

At a time when oil prices spiralled down from over $100 to below $50 within half a year, talking about ‘oil shock’ may seem odd. Yet, the oil shock of 1973–74 was not only the first of its kind on a global scale, but also set the political-economic stage for oil shocks and oil market crashes in the following decades.

On a dream – and a bit too close to her garden – the old wooden derrick was skidded to its third location on Mrs. Daisy Bradford’s 970 acre, East Texas farm… this would be the one.

Knowledgeable but squabbling geologists; summary dismissals; camel transport; ‘lagoonal’ oil; and 40m-high gushers. All in a day’s work for the first oil explorers in Iraq.

Formed just as the first discoveries were being made in the North Sea, the Petroleum Society of Great Britain’s mission is to promote, for the public benefit, education in the scientific and technical aspects of petroleum exploration.

2014 marks the centenary of the beginning of World War One. The Great War, as it was generally referred to in Europe, heralded a major shift in political power across the Western World, Asia and Africa. It also witnessed the emergence of the modern oil and gas industry.

A prelude to the great discoveries of the North Sea, the onshore oilfields provide a fascinating insight into the history of UK oil.