I was really asking because I'd heard different opinions and I'd like to know myself. Spindletop would be hard to beat:
Exhausted after 2 months of strenuous drilling, the crew shut down for a week over the Christmas holiday, 1900, having reached a depth of 880 feet. When they arrived back on site on New Year's Day, 1901, they were energized, and within a week drilled down to a depth of 1,020 feet. After pulling the drill out to change some equipment, they started to lower it back in. The day was January 10, 1901. After lowering it back into the open hole to a depth of about 700 feet, a full 17 hours since the last "drilling" had actually occurred, mud started bubbling back up the hole. Seconds later, the drill pipe shot out of the ground with great force, and then...nothing happened.
After a short time, the frustrated and confused drillers set about to clean up the mess and see if anything could be salvaged. All of a sudden, a noise like a cannon shot came from the hole, and mud came shooting out of the ground like a rocket. Within a few seconds, natural gas, then oil followed. The oil "gusher" - greenish-black in color, doubled the size of the drilling derrick, rising to a height of more than 150 feet (about 50 meters). This was more oil than had ever been seen anywhere in the entire world. Captain Lucas had been hopeful that this well might produce 5 barrels per day. In fact, this well, "Lucas 1", flowed at an initial rate of nearly 100,000 barrels per day, more than all of the other producing wells in the United States COMBINED!
GO EDEX!
