The Geological Society will celebrate the Centenary of the Hardstoft Discovery – Britain’s first Oil Field – in May 2019. The celebration will start during a special conference next month on ‘European Oil & Gas Industry History’ at Burlington House (3-4 March), convened by the Petroleum Group, History of Geology Group (HOGG) and the Petroleum History Institute.

It will mark several important anniversaries including 150 years of oil exploration in Poland & Romania, the centenary of the drilling of the first oil well in the UK and 50 years of oil production onshore Spain. The focus of the conference will be to examine the history and heritage of the oil and gas industry in Europe from the earliest onshore drilling (and digging) to its development into the industry that we know today and also to examine the transition from conventional to unconventional resource plays in the onshore arena

Keynote speakers from across the UK, Europe and the USA will share the historical framework of exploration and development activities. Invited Keynote Speakers include:
Dick Selley: UK Shale Gas Exploration – From 1875 to Now
Jon Gluyas: Argyll: A Field Reborn; Twice
Ferdinando Cazzini: The Early History of the Oil & Gas Industry In Italy
Jean-Jacques Biteau: The History of the Oil & Gas Industry in the Aquitaine Basin

Click here for further information and to register your place
GeolSoc Fellow / PESGB Member £100
Student £50
Non-fellow £150