What If Oil Disappeared Tomorrow?

In 1859, a man everyone called "Colonel" Drake was about to give up. Then his driller looked down the hole and saw something dark floating on the water, and the modern world began. In this animated documentary, we answer two questions: How did we actually find oil? And what would happen if it disappeared tomorrow? From ancient Mesopotamian bitumen and Baku's fire temples to Drake's well in Pennsylvania, the Spindletop gusher in Texas, and the long bet on Dammam Well No. 7 in Saudi Arabia, then a look at what would break first in a world without oil. What do you think would break first if oil disappeared? Tell us in the comments, and subscribe for more stories like this. CHAPTERS 0:00 Intro: The Hole That Changed the World 0:52 Part 1: Oil Before Oil Wells 2:17 Part 2: Whales, Lamps & a Fake Colonel 4:19 Part 3: When Gasoline Was Garbage 6:09 Part 4: The Bet in the Desert 8:40 Part 5: What If Oil Disappeared Tomorrow? 11:49 The Long Run 12:09 That's the Story SOURCES - Drake Well Museum and Park, Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (drakewell.org) - American Oil & Gas Historical Society (aoghs.org): Edwin Drake, Spindletop - Handbook of Texas, Texas State Historical Association (tshaonline.org): Spindletop Oilfield - Encyclopaedia Britannica (britannica.com): Standard Oil, John D. Rockefeller, Model T - Saudi Aramco, company history (aramco.com): Dammam Well No. 7, Ras Tanura 1939, Ghawar - Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State (history.state.gov): Oil Embargo, 1973–1974 - U.S. Energy Information Administration (eia.gov): oil consumption, electricity by source, barrel conversions - International Energy Agency, Oil Market Report (iea.org): global oil demand - U.S. Department of Energy, Strategic Petroleum Reserve (energy.gov) - American Trucking Associations (trucking.org): share of U.S. freight moved by trucks - Map data: Natural Earth (naturalearthdata.com), public domain CREDITS Voice-over generated with ElevenLabs. Music and sound effects: original, created for this video. #Oil #History #Documentary #Animation #Energy