When did oil become a valuable commodity?

Around what time period did oil begin to be refined and become a very important resource? More importantly, when did it become important to the world's military forces?
 

mowque

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Oil_price_1900_int.png
 
I knew that. But I really don't think prices represent the importance of oil. I'm talking about when demand began to rise. Prices only rise when supply stays the same and demand rises; supply was probably very great when refined oil first started to gain demand, so I would imagine it would take a while for the demand to affect the price. Also, I'm curious to know as when oil became a major part of the world's militaries (EG powering warships).
 
I have a vague recollection that the oil economy only became viable with the discovery of the first gusher in Texas in 1901.
 
Oil became useful as a source of lamp oil in the latter half of the 1800s. It became important as a resource with the rise of the internal combustion engine in the first three decades of the 20th Century, in particular during and after WWI.
 
Oil became useful as a source of lamp oil in the latter half of the 1800s. It became important as a resource with the rise of the internal combustion engine in the first three decades of the 20th Century, in particular during and after WWI.

Kind of. It became valuable once kerosene could be distilled. The importance of this was magnified by the near extinction of multiple species of whales and the discoveries of significant oil fields in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Galicia and Baku. Its importance was further amplified during the 2nd industrial revolution thanks to the use of petrochemical lubricants for machinery. But it would take the invention of the internal combustion engine, and the process of cracking to transform it into a critical strategic resource.
 
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