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The Largest Oil Finds in the History of the U.S

The United States was the largest producer of oil and gas for much of the 20th century. The largest oil finds in the country's history mostly came between the early part of the century and the 1960s, while prospectors continue to look for oil finds to this day. The largest oil finds include not just the biggest in total production but those that had the most significance.

Spindletop
- One of the biggest and most important oil finds came just as the 20th century began in southeast Texas. At Spindletop, just outside of Beaumont, the Lucas No. 1 oil well blew in a gusher of oil, gas and mud, sending the gusher 100 feet into the air and taking workers nine days to cap it. That very well began producing an average of 75,000 barrels a day. This was the find that kick-started Texas' move to the industrial age, changing it from an economy built exclusively on agriculture to one driven by oil barons.
Prudhoe Bay
- The Prudhoe Bay oil field in northern Alaska is the largest oil producer in United States history. Located along the northern Alaska coast about 250 miles north of the Arctic Circle, Prudhoe Bay was estimated by Alaska's Division of Geological &Geophysical Surveys to have had 10 billion barrels worth of oil at its 1968 discovery; it's since been increased to 25 billion barrels. Oil production did not start until nine years later following completion of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline; the field is operated by British Petroleum, ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips, as of 2011.
East Texas
- The largest oil find in the continental United States was first discovered in 1930. The East Texas Oil Field extends into five counties within northeast Texas and originally contained 7 billion barrels worth of oil. The discovery led to the creation of the Big Inch pipeline that transported the oil all the way to Philadelphia; this was the nations' largest oil pipeline before the Alaska pipeline was built.
Bakkan Formation
- In 2008, many news organizations and the U.S. Geological Survey began reporting of a huge quantity of oil within the Bakken shale formation, which cuts through North Dakota, Montana and the Canadian Province of Saskatchawan. The USGS reported that the Bakkan formation could ultimately produce from 3.0 to 4.3 billion barrels of oil due to new technology. This would technically make it one of the largest recent oil finds in the country's history. However, due to the United State's massive consumption of oil as of 2011, even this estimate would provide less than a month's supply for the country.

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