The Age of Oil

Products of Oil

Natural Gas – a gas that can be used for fuel

Natural gas production in the world

Petroleum – Commonly called oil, petroleum is a dark, thick, liquid fossil fuel

Fossil Fuel – formed underground from plant or animal remains

Refinery - A factory where crude oil is refined, or made pure, and then made into various products like kerosene for lamps!

(I used to call Pasadena Stinkadena because the whole town smelled so bad!!)

Derricks – towers that support oil-drilling equipment

Boomtowns

• Beaumont and Sour Lake are boomtowns because they grew along with economic booms.

Wildcatters

• Independent oil operators who search for new fields. In particular Wildcatters competed with one another to find salt domes in the Gulf Coast Plain just like the Spindletop strike.

Glenn Herbert McCarthy“King of the Wildcatters”

Howard Hughes Sr.• Howard Hughes Sr. got the

double drill bit patented and it revolutionized the oil industry.

• With this new technology changed the oil industry by allowing drilling where it was previously impossible!!!

Pattillo Higgins

• Dug for oil under a salt dome at a place called Spindletop Hill

• After many failures, they hired an engineer named Anthony Lucas and he eventually struck oil.

The famous Lucas Gusher, 1901

Spindletop's Boiler Avenue, 1903

It is known as the Spindletop Strike and it marked the beginning of the Texas Oil Boom

The Effects of the BOOM

• In 1917 the legislature gave the Texas Railroad Commission, an agency originally created to regulate railroads, authority to enforce laws concerning the petroleum industry.

Most Texans thought the land set aside for education was a waste until the Santa Rita No. 1 struck oil in 1923!!

Changes in Government

One of the most significant developments in Texan

government resulted from the creation of a state oil

production tax in 1905. The revenue generated by the tax

made funds available for development in the state

without the need for income taxes and similar revenue

mechanisms adopted in other states.

Change in Demographics

Population growth

City

Percent growth(1900–1930)

1930 population

Beaumont 512% 57,732

Houston 555% 292,352

Dallas 511% 260,475

Fort Worth 504% 163,447

El Paso 578% 102,421

Economic Changes• At the start of the 20th century, agriculture, timber, and

ranching were the leading economic engines of Texas. This was changed by the boom, which led to rapid industrialization.

• By 1940, the value of petroleum and natural gas produced in Texas exceeded the value of all agricultural products in the state.

From:To:

What issues does the oil industry face today? (Watch this video!)

• http://video.foxnews.com/v/1537892441001/tax-break-debate-for-oil-companies/