Whenever you see a headline like this, you know it will go along the lines of “did you know that petroleum stands for rock oil?” Yes you did, goes the reply of an overwhelming majority of readers. For this reason, the list below is one which holds the reader in high esteem, as a dear colleague on the road to broaden our knowledge of the oil industry. So here we go… 1.) Oil’s first use was for caulking – ruins from early Antiquity (5-6 000 BC) testify that Euphrates and Indus Valley civilizations built their houses with bitumen. Caulking their ships with bitumen logically followed soon afterwards. 2.) Both Tamerlane and Nadir Shah used camels laden with petroleum casks to frighten off Indian war elephants – once set on fire, the sight of fire made the elephants flee in panic. 3.) A first in Europe, oil exported from Venezuela […]