Begin van olie in Venezuela

Silvia

· 06 Feb 2021

Begin van olie in Venezuela

#history Venezuela, before it was a mining land, was an oil land. Even before the arrival of the Spaniards, the natives already knew oil under the name MENE. They used it to waterproof their canoes and light themselves. In 1799 Alejandro Humboldt found an oil well on the Araya Peninsula. In 1839, the government entrusted José María Vargas to investigate the new product found.

Once the research is done, it is concluded that this matter is richer than gold due to its large uses. Oil was used at that time for very simple things, and its extraction was quite rudimentary, it was not industrially exploited.

The first well in history that was industrially exploited was an Edwin I Drake pit in 1859 in Pennsylvania, United States.

In Venezuela, it began to explode in 1875, when after an earthquake oil began to flow in large quantities through one of the cracks created by the earthquake. This happened on the farm “La Alquitrana" in the state of Táchira of Mr. Manuel Antonio Pulido. As a result of this fact, on 12 October 1878, under the concession of the government, Mr Pulido created the first Venezuelan oil company in history dedicated to the industrial exploitation of oil, the “Petrolera del Táchira" or “La Petrolia from Táchira".

At first, among the petroleum derivatives kerosene was most useful, it was used for lighting and for the first kitchens.