1906 US Government filed suit against Standard Oil under the Antitrust Act

1907 Shell (British) and Royal Dutch merged to form Royal Dutch Shell

1908 Oil discovered in Persia, Anglo Persian Oil Company formed (later BP)

1911 Break up of Standard Oil Trust ordered by US Supreme Court

1914-18 World War I, the first conflict where control of oil supply really mattered

1924 Teapot Dome scandal — political manipulation in setting up the US Naval Oil Reserve

1928 World oil glut leads to “As-Is” agreement in Achnacarry Castle meeting

1929 Start of Great Depression

1931 Conrad and Marcel Schlumberger successfully identify presence of oil in a formation by measuring resistivity

1932 Oil discovered in Bahrain

1934 Anglo-Iranian and Gulf gain joint concession in Kuwait

1938 Mexico nationalizes foreign oil companies. Oil discovered in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia

Source: Energy Intelligence