By special arrangment with the author, Energy Bulletin presents the saga of oil, from Col. Edwin Drake and the first oil well to Peak Oil. Author Byron W. King has worked as a geologist for an international oil company and is currently an attorney. I think you'll agree that Byron King has some fascinating stories to tell.

The Ghost of Colonel Drake

The life and times of Col. Edwin Drake, who drilled the world's first commercial oil well near Titusville, PA in 1859. It is not overstating the case to say that the seed of the modern world, so dependent as it is upon energy and materials derived from petroleum, was planted by Col. Drake.

Oil: A Hole In The Ground

The first oil wells, paraffin and President Lincoln.

Barrels of Oil, Miles of Mud

Early days in the oil fields: wildcatters, investment fever and dead horses

The Last Foot of Rail, the End of the Line

Using the Trans Canada Railroad as an analogy, King recounts the timeline of geologic history up to the present. Within the span of the last few inches of a 4,500 mile timeline, humankind will have consumed all of the Earth's oil heritage.

Peak Oil: Geology Is Destiny

Peak Oil is a real phenomenon, based on hard science. Ignore it at your peril. At root, the Peak Oil guys are right. How can I emphasize it properly? OK, they are "right, right, right." Everybody else is "wrong, wrong, wrong."

Oil: Looking In All The Right Places

Wildcatting and exploration in the Canadian Maritimes -- how an oil geologist and investor sees the landscape.