• 10"x 16" image size (12"x 18" paper size) / 200 prints / 18"x 24" matting size
• available as a Matted Card scene.

Surface deposits of crude oil have been known to humans for thousands of years. In areas where they occurred, they were used for caulking boats, waterproofing cloth, fueling torches and medicinal purposes. In the 1820's, waterwell diggers were disgusted to encountered gas instead of water. Teamsters used oil seeps to lubricate the axles of their wagons.

The first oilfield in Louisiana was located in Acadia Parish in 1901. That same year near Jennings, the first gusher was struck in Louisiana at a depth of 1800 feet. Before the year was out, seventy-six new companies were searching the state for the vast underground pool of oil. Long chances were taken on the hope that wells drilled in unknown territory might lead to discovery. Wells drilled where no oil was found before are known as "wildcats". By 1916, Louisiana ranked fifth among the 48 states in oil production.

Kerosene for lamps was the most important product of early refining. Simple distillation was the only method used for refining crude oil and gasoline was largely wasted because there was little use for it. Today, the components of crude oil-gasoline, lubricants, butane, alcohol-have so many uses that there is very little waste.

The first offshore well drilled in the Gulf of Mexico was completed in 1933. By 1986, more than 7000 wells were operational from Louisiana. Much of the technology of offshore drilling was developed in Louisiana. Drilling goes on day and night as derricks manipulate long pipes which bore down into oil-bearing sands, sometimes to depths of 12,000 feet. While Louisiana is still among the leading states in petroleum production, amounts declined in the early 1990s to one-third of the level from just ten years before.