Introduction

PETROLEUM

In the 1840s, the process to distill kerosene from petroleum was invented by James Young in Scotland and the first refinery was built by Ignacy Łukasiewicz, providing a cheaper alternative to whale oil. The demand for the petroleum as a fuel for lighting in North America and around the world quickly grew. The question of what constituted the first commercial oil well is a difficult one to answer. Edwin Drake's 1859 well near Titusville, Pennsylvania, is popularly considered the first modern well. Drake's well is probably singled out because it was drilled, not dug; because it used a steam engine because there was a company associated with it; and because it touched off a major boom.

James Young

However, there was considerable activity before Drake in various parts of the world in the mid-19th century. A group directed by Major Alexeyev of the Bakinskii Corps of Mining Engineers hand-drilled a well in the Baku region in 1848. There were engine-drilled wells in West Virginia in the same year as Drake's well. An early commercial well was hand dug in Poland in 1853, and another in nearby Romania in 1857. At around the same time the world's first, but small, oil refineries were opened at Jasło, in Poland, with a larger one being opened at Ploiești, in Romania, shortly after. Romania is the first country in the world to have its crude oil output officially recorded in international statistics, namely 275 tonnes. By the end of the 19th century the Russian Empire, particularly the Branobel company in Azerbaijan, had taken the lead in production.To score More in your class 8 refer NCERT solutions for class 8 .