If asked “what is the single most important heritage Romania has left to the world?” I doubt you would know the right answer. And you are not to blame; the vast majority of Romanian people don’t know the answer either. Yet, when driving to work or taking the plane to the next exotic destination, or even when you’re bagging your groceries at the local supermarket (where plastic bags are still permitted) all of us should thank a bunch of Romanian geeks that represented the spearhead in understanding and developing ways of using a greasy, smelly black substance called oil.
Some of the major events include in our history include:
1856 – The first refinery is build near Ploiesti
1857 – According to international statistics Romania is the first country in the world extracting and refining oil. Our production: 250 tons/year
1857 – Bucharest becomes the first city in the world with a public lighting system using petroleum
1900 – Romania is the 3rd largest producer in the world with an annual production of 1.9 million barrels
Beginning of 1900’s – the first big international companies are entering in Romania including Standard Oil and Shell.
1908 – Lazar Edeleanu presents an advanced procedure for refining oil using sulfur dioxide, procedure that is still used today for produsing superior quality oils.
1943 – Operation Tidal Wave – a massive force of bombardiers sent by the Americans from Benghazi airbase in Libia to destroy the wells and refineries near Ploiesti. At that time Romania was an ally and a big supplier for Nazi Germany.
For more details involving the history of Romanian oil, you can visit one of our little gems: The Romanian Oil Museum in Ploiesti. Here you will see with your eyes the tools used by the domain’s pioneers, old books, pictures and newspaper fragments presenting the Romanian role in world history.
Location: Ploiesti – 60 km north of Bucharest
Visiting days: Tuesday to Sunday from 9 AM to 5 PM
Also, for a more vivid presentation of those first days, you can watch “There will be blood” movie.
Travelling in Romania 