Skip to main content
“Slanted oil wells are the latest sensation of the oil industry,” reports May 1934 Popular Science Monthly article.
Society
Main Category
Sub Category
Era
Date Created
Coordinates
30.2332696, -95.3502147
City
Conroe
State
Country

H. John Eastman introduces controlled directional drilling in 1929 and was awarded a patent the following year.

The technique became widely adopted after an oil strike in Conroe, Texas, caught fire in January 1933. The well exploded, creating a 600-foot deep crater, and the oil burned for months. Although the fire was eventually put out,  oil continued to flow into the “lake.” The only way to manage this was to drill another well to relieve the pressure.

H. John was brought in to drill the relief well, which he did successfully in November 1933 using his technique of directional drilling.

His company grew into a global organization using directional drilling to reach oil under small off-shore islands and other places. 

 

For more information, see: Technology and the “Conroe Crater” at the American Oil & Gas Historical Society

 

Image Credit
American Oil & Gas Historical Society
Image Caption
“Slanted oil wells are the latest sensation of the oil industry,” reports May 1934 Popular Science Monthly article. “Drilled by experts who use special tools and secret methods to send the bit burrowing into the ground at strange angles, they are finding amazing new applications.”

We hope you enjoyed this essay.

Please support America's only magazine of the history of engineering and innovation, and the volunteers that sustain it with a donation to Invention & Technology.

Donate

Stay informed - subscribe to our newsletter.
The subscriber's email address.