2013 marked the 100th anniversary of the first drive-up gas station as we know it. Happy Birthday, modern gas station!The patrons of that first station probably had no idea that its construction signaled the beginning of the end — the end of a time where people in the U.S. and most of the rest of the world were not entirely enveloped and affected by the industry surrounding gas run cars, car culture, and by extension, oil and gas industry trends. Along with the traditional Sunday drive, tourism industries blossoming along well traveled highways and the birth of the contemporary road trip, oil and gas has brought the world millions of jobs ,and the ability to travel the world and ship goods faster than ever before. In celebration of that flammable, liquid commodity, lovingly dubbed “black gold” by some of its most strident devotees, here are 3 facts you probably didn’t know about the history of what we know today as the oil industry:

Bet you thought that all the oil in the world market came mainly from the Middle East, didn’t you? Thanks to the media and the conflicts surrounding those areas, that misconception has prevailed. Think again! The U.S. ranks third in crude oil production globally, behind Russia and Saudi Arabia.
World War I proved to be the real moment for oil and gasoline to shine. Gas prices had exceeded those of kerosene by 1919, and the oil powered tankers, planes, trucks and ships used by the military proved to the world the and military assets that could be made of crude oil and its refined product.
The oil industry got its start early- oil was being produced via bamboo drills in China as early as 347 AD. But the first oil baron, John D. Rockefeller, didn’t get started until 1865 when he founded the famous Standard Oil Company after a career in refining. Applying the successful methods of a capitalist entrepreneur, he jump-started what we know today as the global oil industry — paired with the demand generated by the gas guzzling cars of the future (an innovation by fellow industrialist Henry Ford), the oil and gas industry has become one of the most valuable industries in the world.