when was petroleum first used
The North Sea crude oil fields are still fairly full, and are arguably the second most influential oil field in economic terms. Texas, once the world's major oil region, is now almost completely dry. In 1859 Edwin Drake sank the first known oil well, this was in Pennsylvania. Since this time oil and petroleum production figure grew exponentially. Originally the primary use of petroleum was as a lighting fuel, once it had been distilled and turned into kerosene. When Edison opened the world's first electricity generating plant in 1882 the demand for kerosene began to drop.