Age of Oil

The Age of Oil, also known as the Oil Age or the Petroleum Age, refers to the era in human history characterised by an increased use of petroleum in products and as fuel. Though unrefined petroleum has been used for various purposes since ancient times, it was during the 19th century that refinement techniques were developed and gasoline engines were created. The oil age is commonly thought of as beginning, however, in 1901 with the strike at Spindletop, near Beaumont, Texas in the United States which launched large scale oil production and soon made the petroleum products widely available.^[1] Other earlier dates which are sometimes used as start dates include 1846 (Abraham Gesner invents kerosene making coal and petroleum practical raw materials for lighting fuel), 1859 (Edwin Drake invents the first modern drilling process for deep oil wells), and 1879 (Karl Benz produces the first practical gasoline-powered automobile).

Since the 1960s and 1970s, when petroleum production peaked in many industrialized nations, a frequent topic of speculation among scholars has been when worldwide production will peak, as well as when and how the oil age will ultimately end. According to some definitions the age is defined as ending at the point where consumption outstrips the decreasing production making its use unprofitable or impossible. With the dawning of the so-called Atomic Age many observers in the mid 20th century had believed that the Oil Age was rapidly coming to an end.^[2] However, the rapid change to atomic power envisioned during this period never materialized.

See also

• Peak oil

Notes

1. ^ Maugeri (2005), p. 15
2. ^ Croly, Herbert David (1945). The New Republic. 113. p. 831. http://books.google.com/books?id=5TUQAAAAIAAJ. 

References

• Maugeri, Leonardo (2005). The Age of Oil: What They Don't Want You to Know About the World's Most Controversial Resource. Guilford, CT: Globe Pequot. p. 15. ISBN 978-1-59921-118-3. http://books.google.com/books?id=mzHt5hYeXlIC. 
• Goodstein, D. L. (2005). Out of gas: The end of the age of oil. New York., NY: W.W. Norton.
• Whitaker's World of Facts