when was oil first used as an energy source
History of the petroleum industry The use of petroleum dates back to ancient China more than 2000 years ago. In I Ching, one of the earliest Chinese writings cites the use of oil in its raw state without refining was first discovered, extracted, and used in China in the first century BCE. In addition, the Chinese were the first to use petroleum as fuel as the early as the fourth century BCE.[2][3][4][5]
History of the petroleum industry in the United States Petroleum became a major industry following the oil discovery at Oil Creek Pennsylvania in 1859. For much of the 19th and 20th centuries, the US was the largest oil producing country in the world. As of October 2015, the US was the world's third-largest producer of crude oil.[1]