San José State University Department of Economics Thayer Watkins
Silicon Valley & Tornado Alley  The History of the Development
of Libyan Gas and Oil Resources  Because of its desert condition
there was a lot of drilling activity in Libya long before there
were any suspicions of there being petroleum. The search for
water involved drilling very deep wells. Back as far as 1915
deep water wells drilled by Italians sometimes found natural
gas. This was of interest but natural gas was not a prime
commodity at that time. In the U.S. the natural gas from oils
was burnt off (flared) as a nuisance.  In 1935 a professor from
Milan University who was in charge of a water well drilling
program made it a point to watch for petroleum. This was
probably more out of academic interest than a serious concern
for finding a significant economic resource. A couple of year
later petroleum was detected in a water well drilled near
Tripoli.  This find was enough to prompt a geological survey in
Tripolitania. One well was drilled se