1857 First drilling of oil wells at Bend, Romania

1858 First oil well in North America drilled in Ontario, Canada

1859 Col. Edwin Drake strikes oil 69ft below the surface of the ground in Titusville, Pennsylvania, USA 

1870 John D. Rockefeller forms Standard Oil Company

1872 Rockefeller takes over 22 of his competitors

1877 Rockefeller controls 90% of American refining

1882 Standard Oil Trust formed

1885 Oil discovered in Sumatra by Royal Dutch

1895 Extraction of bitumen from bituminous sand using hot water at Carpenteria, California. Invention of combustion engine

1896 Henry Ford’s first motorcar

1901 Spindletop gusher blew out on January 10, 1901 near Beaumont in East Texas, it heralded the birth of the Texas oil industry — Gulf and Texaco. William Knox D'Arcy acquires concession in Persia

1903 Wright brothers take flight

Source: Energy Intelligence