25 Founders of the petroleum industry

Thomas Robert Bard was a political leader in California who assisted in the organization of Ventura County and represented the state in the United States Senate from 1900 to 1905 as a Republican. He is known as the "Father of Port Hueneme" for his efforts in building and expanding the city, as well as the first and only deep water port in the area. He is one of the founders of the UNOCAL company.

Captain John Barneson was one of the most important figures in commerce and development on the Pacific Coast of California. He was responsible for the first oil pipeline in the State of California and was the Founder of General Petroleum which he later sold to Standard Oil of New York. Captain Barneson was a Director and Vice President of Standard Oil after the merger.

George Henry Bissell was an entrepreneur and industrialist who is often considered the father of the American oil industry.

Jabez Abel Bostwick was an American businessman who was a founding partner of Standard Oil.

Edward A. Clampitt was a pioneer oilman in Los Angeles, California, at the turn of the 19th—20th centuries. He was also an elected a member of the Los Angeles City Council.

William Knox D'Arcy was a British businessman who was one of the principal founders of the oil and petrochemical industry in Persia (Iran). The D’Arcy Concession was signed in 1901 and allowed D'Arcy to explore, obtain, and market oil, natural gas, asphalt, and ozokerite in Persia.

Edward Laurence Doheny was an American oil tycoon who, in 1892, drilled the first successful oil well in the Los Angeles City Oil Field. His success set off a petroleum boom in Southern California, and made him a fortune when, in 1902, he sold his properties.

James C. Donnell was an American industrialist. He was the president of The Ohio Oil Company from 1911 until his death in 1927.

Edwin Laurentine Drake, also known as Colonel Drake, was an American businessman and the first American to successfully drill for oil.

Abraham Pineo Gesner, ONB was a Canadian physician and geologist who invented kerosene. Gesner was born in Cornwallis, Nova Scotia and lived much of his life in Saint John, New Brunswick. He died in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He was an influential figure in the development of the study of Canadian geology and natural history.

Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian, nicknamed "Mr Five Per Cent", was a British-Armenian businessman and philanthropist. He played a major role in making the petroleum reserves of the Middle East available to Western development and is credited with being the first person to exploit Iraqi oil. Gulbenkian travelled extensively and lived in a number of cities including Istanbul, London, Paris and Lisbon.

Daniel M. Harkness was an American merchant and businessman in Ohio. He played a role in the formation of Standard Oil in Ohio.

Oliver Burr Jennings was an American businessman and one of the original stockholders in Standard Oil.

Samuel Martin Kier was an American inventor and businessman who is credited with founding the American petroleum refining industry. He was the first person in the United States to refine crude oil into lamp oil. Kier has been dubbed the Grandfather of the American Oil Industry by historians.

Jan Józef Ignacy Łukasiewicz was a Polish pharmacist, engineer, businessman, inventor, and philanthropist. He was one of the most prominent philanthropists in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, crown land of Austria-Hungary. He was a pioneer who in 1856 built the world's first modern oil refinery. His achievements included the discovery of how to distill kerosene from seep oil, the invention of the modern kerosene lamp (1853), the introduction of the first modern street lamp in Europe (1853), and the construction of the world's first modern oil well (1854).

James McDonald was a British-born American oil industrialist.

Robert Hjalmar Nobel was a Swedish businessman, industrialist and investor. He was the founder of Branobel, and a pioneer in the Russian oil industry.

Charles Pratt was an American businessman. Pratt was a pioneer of the U.S. petroleum industry, and he established his kerosene refinery Astral Oil Works in Brooklyn, New York. He then lived with his growing family in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. He recruited Henry H. Rogers into his business, forming Charles Pratt and Company in 1867. Seven years later, Pratt and Rogers agreed to join John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil.

John Davison Rockefeller Sr. was an American business magnate and philanthropist. He is widely considered the wealthiest American of all time and the richest person in modern history.

Henry Huttleston Rogers was an American industrialist and financier. He made his fortune in the oil refining business, becoming a leader at Standard Oil. He also played a major role in numerous corporations and business enterprises in the gas industry, copper, and railroads.

Marcus Samuel, 1st Viscount Bearsted,, known as Sir Marcus Samuel between 1898 and 1921 and subsequently as The Lord Bearsted until 1925, was a Lord Mayor of London and the founder of the Shell Transport and Trading Company, which was later restructured including a Holland-based company commonly referred to as Royal Dutch Shell.

Benjamin Silliman Jr. was a professor of chemistry at Yale University and instrumental in developing the oil industry.

Lyman Stewart was a U.S. businessman and co-founder of Union Oil, which eventually became Unocal. Stewart was also a significant Christian philanthropist and cofounder of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles. He and his brother Milton also anonymously funded publication of The Fundamentals, the foundation document of Christian fundamentalism. Stewart also helped found the Union Rescue Mission in Los Angeles.

Tengku Razaleigh bin Tengku Mohd Hamzah is a Malaysian politician and Member of Parliament (MP). He is dubbed the Father of Malaysian Economic Development for playing a pivotal role in establishing and implementing key foundations and policies in Malaysia's economy. A descendant of Malay royalty, he is a great-uncle of the current Sultan of Kelantan. "Tengku" is a hereditary royal Malay title, equivalent to "Prince/ss."

James Miller Williams was a Canadian-American businessman and politician. Williams is best known for establishing the first commercially successful oil well in 1858 and igniting the first oil boom in North America. Williams is commonly viewed as the father of the petroleum industry in Canada.