Texas Oil Imports
History of oil discoveries in Texas
The most essential and valuable minerals that are produced in Texas are oil and natural gas. They have been produced from the most significant part of areas in Texas. Mostly, they have been produced from geologic eras. The Precambrian period was not among them.
In 1923, when the Big Lake was discovered, large quantities of oil were extracted from the Permian Basin of West Texas. Three years earlier, there was also a small discovery in the Westbrook field in Mitchell County.
Indians found the earliest oil before the first Europeans arrived. It was seeping from the soils of Texas. They thought it had medicinal values. The first mention of the Europeans using crude oil was due to the fact that boats were caulking in 1543 by survivors of the DeSoto expedition near Sabine Pass. The first place to be drilled to produce oil in Texas was Melrose in Nacogdoches County. It was in 1866. Lyne T. Barret was the driller at that time. The first two small refineries were built in 1896 and 1898, but the first well-equipped one in Texas was established in Corsicana in 1898.
Oil discoveries in West Texas were the most significant and subsequent. Lubbock in the Duggan Field in Cochran County was the place where oil was discovered in 1936.
Texas oil boom
The Texas oil boom, people sometimes call it “the gusher age” was a period of economic growth in the United States. This period began with the discovery of a vast petroleum reserve near Beaumont. The find ushered in an age of industrialization and rapid economic development. Texas became one of the biggest and most important oil-producing states in the United States. Texas state eventually beat the Russian Empire as the top producer of petroleum. In 1940 Texas had gained the upper hand in U.S. production.
Because of the oil boom, the leading economic engines of Texas (timber, agriculture and ranching) had taken a back seat. It actually led to rapid industrialization. Initially, oil refineries were located only around the Beaumont and Houston areas. By the end of 1920, refining operations gradually grew statewide.
Lone Star State for the first time exported more oil than it imported
August 2018 was a month when Texas exported more oil than imported for the first time. The Energy Information Administration confirmed this information and have provided such a chart. Take a look below.
Crude oil exports, during that month, exceeded imports by 15,000 barrels per day. Oil exports were from the Houston-Galveston port district. Over the next month, crude oil exports increased to a significant number (470,000 barrels per day). It was awe-inspiring.
It is assumed that at this rate, Texas will soon become the biggest oil producer after Russia and Saudi Arabia, according to production estimates by HSBC. Here is a chart that shows Texas crude oil production.