George Bissell and six investors incorporated the Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company of New York. Convinced by natural seeps that oil could be produced in northwestern Pennsylvania, Bissell formed this first U.S. petroleum exploration company “to raise, manufacture, procure, and sell Rock Oil” from Hibbard Farm in Venango County. (more…)
While drilling for oil in 1878, a well drilled by Michael and Obediah Haymaker erupted with natural gas from a depth of almost 1,400 feet. “Every piece of rigging went sky high, whirling around like so much paper caught in a gust of wind. But instead of oil, we had struck gas,” Michael Haymaker recalled. (more…)
“It was desolate country: sand, mesquite, bear grass, and jackrabbits. Hobbs was a store, a small school, a windmill, and a couple of trees.” — A New Mexico roughneck.
Although the Hobbs discovery came six years after the first oil production (seven years after the first natural gas well), petroleum geologists soon called it the most important single oil find in New Mexico history.
Spudded in late 1927, the Midwest State No. 1 well saw its first signs of oil on June 13, 1928, and the wildcat well was completed November 18 at a depth of 4,065 feet to produce 600 barrels of oil per day. It had been a long journey revealing the giant Hobbs field. (more…)
