The earth was bathed in a radiant glow. Even the deep night seemed like a shimmering mirror from the underworld.
It sat there in subterranean silence for millions and millions of years, a dark sleeping giant, trapped beneath the depth of the earth, unbeknownst to its prehistoric legacy.
Then came man. He saw this naturally occurring mystical raw material, asphalt and crude oil, and he knew that this was a magical substance. This black and sticky substance on the earth’s surface like a shining light, must be power. Man harnessed this viscous gift to reshape and build his world.
Recognising its utility, ancient Sumerians used it to waterproof their boats and used as mortar in boarding the towers of Babylon. The Egyptians further refined its use, elevating oil to a sacred status in preserving their dead.
The centuries passed, using oil mostly for light, but few stopped to ponder or consider how this miracle substance came to be, though geologists eventually figured it out.
Buried for millions of years, deep below the Earth, were the remains of ancient marine plants and animals formed from ancient organic matter (plankton, algae) is most of the oil we use today, originated from the Mesozoic Era, (252-66 million years ago) during the age of the dinosaurs. Evidence suggests oil formation from single organisms, with some microscopic oil found in rocks over three billion years old.
Though humans have known oil and used it since ancient times for thousands of years, its use was sporadic, localized, and not central to energy or industry. Whale oil and coal dominated the energy and lighting landscape of the 18th and 19th centuries.
One summer night, as it glistened and bubbled from beneath the soil, they struck the earth and watched as a dark well surged towards the stars. That was the night that the modern oil industry was born.
The date was 27 August 1859. One Edwin Drake successfully drilled the first commercial oil well in the US. This discovery has been historically recognised as the birthplace of the oil industry, the home of Titusville, Pennsylvania, now a museum commemorating the place where black gold was first struck. That is not the real story.
The real story of the first modern oil well did not come from the US, but from Russia.
Russia was indeed a very early player with the first modern engine-drilled well in the world. Oil discovery is credited to Major Nikolay Alekseyev, near Baku in 1846. Thus. the first oil well in the world was struck in Azerbaijan, which was then part of the Russian Empire.
To be more exact, it was Iran that first found oil to the modern world. A quick note in our history reveals that Russia had seized parts of Iran on several occasions. Iran was forced to cede most of modern-day Azerbaijan to Russia.
Russia and Persia, now Iran, fought several wars especially in the 18th and 19th centuries over control of the Caucasus and Caspian regions, resulting in Russia seizing significant Persian territories, including modern-day Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan. Therefore, the first modern oil well struck in the Bibi EIbat settlement near Baku in Azerbaijan in 1846, then part of the Russian Empire. The Baku oil fields became a global powerhouse with Russia leading global oil by the turn of the century.
It took 13 years for Edwin Drake to catch up the feat of Major Nikolay Alekseyev, for the Americans to catch up with Russia.
Now that we discovered oil, what have we done with it? Practically, everything.
From lighting homes to driving cars — transportation, manufacturing, plastics, chemicals, fertilisers, lubricants, asphalt — countless everyday products like medicines, textiles, paints — make over 72 uses for everyday oil. You name it, oil needs it. Some like to say electricity is useful, but how can you have electricity without oil?
When World War I came, oil was essential in helping each other kill. They wanted more. World War II came, using seven billion barrels of oil to help the Allies win the war. Some 55 million people were killed — the most devastating human toll in history’s deadliest war. The world wars ended, but war never ended. War continues. We need oil — for tanks, planes, ships. War is driven by oil and oil is the world’s most valuable commodity.
Buy it, sell it, curse it, kill it, we want more oil.
It is estimated that 1.4 to 1.5 trillion barrels would have been used globally with estimates of 1.6 to 1.7 trillion barrels remain globally, suggesting roughly 50 years’ supply at current consumption rates.
In its first year, only 2,000 barrels of oil were used.
In 170 years, since the 1850s, more has been lost than there is right now. Many are calling for the cessation of producing oil completely.
The International Energy Agency and others expect global oil demand will decline by 2030 as the world shifts towards renewable energy. What would happen if oil runs out? Figure it out.
Unless we control our addiction for oil and greed, we will find ourselves back to the pr-oil era, which is not such a bad predicament, after all.
“There is a sufficiency in the world for man’s need, but not man’s greed.”
Mahama Gandhi (1869-1948)
* A version of this article appears in print in the 22 January, 2026 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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