There have been significant changes in technology in the production of oil since its first production as you will read more here. Considering the value of oil to our lives, it is suitable to review the changes that have followed its discovery. In the past, in Ancient Mesopotamia bitumen a hardened substance was used in ship construction and holding jewelry together. The Kings of Egypt used bitumen for the construction of the famous pyramids. These minerals which oozed to the surface freely requiring no extraction equipment led to the discovery of oil.
The technique used to obtain oil on its discovery was by simply digging. In this site you learn more about how the traditional people used oil to treat diseases, light lamps to increase visibility and keep warm. Following the lack of valuable knowledge about oil as read in this site, there many false assumptions about oil fields at the time.
The technology that followed drilling was the use of spring poles. This apparatus which was connected to a tree was made popular by the Ruffner brothers with the intention of reaching more salt deeper in the earth. Despite a hint of the possible things oil could be used for at this time, oil was still not a necessity. However when steam power was introduced, the brothers were able to drill salt at a faster rate. Benjamin Silliman a chemist at Yale learned more about processes that could convert the oil into kerosene that could then be used in lamps. After the discovery by Benjamin, there was more interest in this product and commercial extraction could be seen as you’ll see here.
From this website, you will read more about how the need for oil increased significantly. The number of oil deposits discovered in the earth increased. During the drilling process there were sediments that obstructed extraction of oil and the need for better machinery came up. Consequently, a method called rotary drilling emerged whose head could move past the hard sediment with great ease. One historic moment was witnessed in Texas where a rig in Beaumont struck oil and it rose to the surface trickling like rain water. As the world war 1 was set to begin, the demand for this product increased resulting in dire need for improved equipment following strong competition among nations. The most important aspect of the rotary drilling method was to extract oil found very deep into the earth.
Right now the world still uses the rotary drill for oil extraction. Besides been in use, the equipment has had significant changes technologically to improve efficiency. From what you have read in this website, you can see that the rigs can do more work than they did in the past. One such case is the increased mobility of the rig to extract oil from several oil wells.