Overview
The Petroleum Trail is an international tourist trail which runs from Poland to Ukraine linking places associated with the petroleum industry of the 19th century.
Background
During the mid 19th and early 20th centuries, significant oil reserves were discovered and developed in Galicia near Drohobych and Boryslav, The first European attempt to drill for oil was in Bóbrka, Krosno County, Western Galicia, in 1854. In 1883, their company, MacGarvey and Bergheim, bored holes of 700 to 1,000 meters and found large oil deposits. By 1909, production reached its peak at 2,076,000 tons or 4% of worldwide production. From 500 residents in the 1860s, Borysław had grown to 12,000 by 1898. At the turn of the century, Galicia was ranked fourth in the world as an oil producer. This significant increase in oil production also caused a slump in oil prices. A very rapid decrease in oil production in Galicia occurred just before the Balkans conflicts. Galicia was the Central Powers' only major domestic source of oil during the Great War.
Sanok County
* Zarszyn – glycol and methanol storage for natural gas mining * Strachocina – underground gas storage, structure of the old mine * Sanok – exposition of the 19th-century oil industry related structures in Skansen – Open Air Museum * Tyrawa Solna – preserved structure of a mine and pumping jack * Wielopole – buildings of the office, boiler – room, waiting room for miners
History
*1866 – Set up of oil production centres: Witryłów-Hłomcza, Polana, Łodyna-Brzegi, Zagórz, Rajskie, Stara Wieś, Głębokie, Turze Pole, Wielopole, Mokre, Tokarnia, Grabownica. *1928 – Discovery of Strachocina natural gas reservoir. *1924 – 1939 – Galician Petroleum Society "Galicja" drills on area of Jurowce, Strachocina. *1930s – Oil and natural gas are produced among others in: Grabownica, Strachocina, Turze Pole, Stara Wies, Humniska, Wańkowa, Ropienka, Polana, Wielopole. *September 1939 – "Beskiden Erdöl Gewinnungs – Geselschaft", renamed for "Karpaten Oil" infill drills of reservoirs: Wielopole, Mokre, Grabownica. *October 9, 1944 – Creation of the State Petroleum Office, which form letter Nr15 establish "... the highest organising unit of mining district – Sector Sanok ..." *1946 – Beginning of rotary method in drilling. *1953 – Creation of drilling company – Sanok.
Old postcards
Image:Wankowa.jpg View at the Oil Field, Galician Petroleum Society "Galicja",1900s Image:Mokre1914.jpg View at the Oil Field, Mokre, 1914 Poland Image:Galicia1911.jpg View at the Oil Field, Oil wells 1909 Image:Galicja1909.jpg View at the Oil Field, Oil wells 1911 Image:Grabownicastarzenska 30XXw.jpg View at the Oil Field "Grabownica", 1930s
See also
* Ignacy Łukasiewicz
References
*The Petroleum Trail (also, and) *Królewskie Wolne Miasto Sanok, official website *Bobrka, Krosno district, Poland