Spindletop

Kimberly Medina: History of Oil Use in Texas

By dcloud1

  • Melrose

    First drilled well to produce oil in Texas.

  • George Dullnig

    George Dullnig, a Bexar County rancher, discovered a small quantity while drilling for water, but it was not sufficient to justify additional development.

  • First major refinery

    The first well-equipped refinery in Texas was built in Corsicana in 1898 shipped its first production in 1899. State’s first refinery, despite the earlier efforts.

  • Beaumont Spindletop

    Spurting drilling pipe, mud, gas and oil, the Lucas No. 1 well blew in at Spindletop near Beaumont.
  • Period: to

    Oil Fever

    Oil fever spread through North Central Texas, with finds at Brownwood, Petrolia and Wichita Falls.

  • Offshore

    The first offshore drilling was in shallow northern Galveston Bay, where the Goose Creek Field was discovered in 1908.

  • West Texas

    The most significant subsequent oil discoveries in Texas were those in West Texas. In 1936, oil was discovered west of Lubbock in the Duggan Field in Cochran County.
  • Period: to

    Austin Chalk

    The Giddings Field on the Austin Chalk in Lee, Fayette, and Burleson counties had significant drilling in the 1970s that continued into the 1980s.