Oil: From the First Well to the Dependency Network Built by Standard Oil

On 27 August 1859, Edwin Drake struck oil at Titusville, Pennsylvania. The well was about 21 metres deep and triggered an oil rush in the United States. Oil did not immediately become car fuel. The urgent product was kerosene for lamps; gasoline and other light parts of crude oil were treated as dangerous waste.

During the next decade, John D. Rockefeller did not rush to drill wells. He chose to control refineries, barrels, rail lines, and buyers because the middle of the supply chain decided who could sell oil and at what price. Standard Oil was created in 1870. The company bought or forced small refineries out of the market, negotiated favourable railroad rates, and brought many stages of the business under one system.