<P> In 1745 under the Empress Elizabeth of Russia the first oil well and refinery were built in Ukhta by Fiodor Priadunov . Through the process of distillation of the "rock oil" (petroleum) he received a kerosene - like substance, which was used in oil lamps by Russian churches and monasteries (though households still relied on candles). </P> <P> Oil sands were mined from 1745 in Merkwiller - Pechelbronn, Alsace under the direction of Louis Pierre Ancillon de la Sablonnière, by special appointment of Louis XV . The Pechelbronn oil field was active until 1970, and was the birthplace of companies like Antar and Schlumberger . The first modern refinery was built there in 1857 . </P> <P> The modern history of petroleum began in the 19th century with the refining of paraffin from crude oil . The Scottish chemist James Young in 1847 noticed a natural petroleum seepage in the Riddings colliery at Alfreton, Derbyshire from which he distilled a light thin oil suitable for use as lamp oil, at the same time obtaining a thicker oil suitable for lubricating machinery . In 1846, Baku (settlement Bibi - Heybat) the first ever well drilled with percussion tools to a depth of 21 meters for oil exploration . In 1848, Young set up a small business refining the crude oil . The new oils were successful, but the supply of oil from the coal mine soon began to fail (eventually being exhausted in 1851). Young, noticing that the oil was dripping from the sandstone roof of the coal mine, theorized that it somehow originated from the action of heat on the coal seam and from this thought that it might be produced artificially . </P> <P> Following up this idea, he tried many experiments and eventually succeeded, by distilling cannel coal at a low heat, a fluid resembling petroleum, which when treated in the same way as the seep oil gave similar products . Young found that by slow distillation he could obtain a number of useful liquids from it, one of which he named "paraffine oil" because at low temperatures it congealed into a substance resembling paraffin wax . </P>

When was oil first discovered in the world