The Trenton Gas Field is located in east central
Indiana
Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...
and the most western portion of west central
Ohio
Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...
. The field was discovered in 1876, but the size and magnitude of the field was not known until the 1880s. The field was the largest natural gas discovery up to that time, with an area of , somewhat smaller in area than the state of
Connecticut
Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...
, containing over of natural gas. The field also contained the first giant oil reserve discovered in the United States, with an estimated of oil. The discovery led to the
Indiana Gas Boom.
Almost all of the natural gas was removed from the field by 1910, but only about 10% of the oil had been removed at that point. The lack of pressure caused by the removal of the gas led to a complete stoppage of oil production, even though an estimated of oil remained in the field.
[Gray, p. 189] Beginning in the late 20th century, oil production resumed at a slow pace after advances in
artificial lift technology.
Oil and gas production from this field led the
Standard Oil Company
Standard Oil Company was a corporate trust in the petroleum industry that existed from 1882 to 1911. The origins of the trust lay in the operations of the Standard Oil Company (Ohio), which had been founded in 1870 by John D. Rockefeller. The ...
to establish
refinery
A refinery is a production facility composed of a group of chemical engineering unit processes and unit operations refining certain materials or converting raw material into products of value.
Types of refineries
Different types of refineries ...
operations in Indiana. The firm's production and refinery interests led, in turn, to Standard's Indiana interests being grouped together after the
1911 breakup of the firm due to antitrust action, leading to the formation of the
Standard Oil Company of Indiana.
See also
*
Trenton Limestone
The Trenton Group is a geologic unit in Canada and Michigan, Ohio, New York State and Indiana, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia in the United States. It dates back to the Ordovician Period (geology), period.
See also
* List of fossiliferous strati ...
*
Petroleum industry in Ohio
Notes
Sources
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Energy in Indiana
Oil fields of the United States
Energy in Ohio