Ghawar Field, Browns Ferry Unit 2, Clean Power Plan and the Hydrogen Highway

This Week in Energy History for Wednesday June 19, 2025.

It’s June 19th, and today, the timeline of energy has more than just a flicker—it’s lit up with oil booms, nuclear caution, policy pivots, and a few pivotal firsts in renewables.

Let’s begin in the oil patch, 1953. On this day, Standard Oil of New Jersey—what we now know as ExxonMobil—officially announced a major new find in Saudi Arabia’s Ghawar Field, soon to become the largest conventional oil field in the world. It wasn’t just a discovery; it was the moment the Middle East was confirmed as the new epicenter of global petroleum production. The field would go on to produce over 60 billion barrels, shifting geopolitical dynamics, boosting U.S.-Saudi relations, and eventually leading to the formation of OPEC.

Meanwhile, stateside in 1970, a subtle but seismic shift in energy economics: The U.S. Bureau of Mines published data showing that domestic oil production had peaked the previous year. That infamous “peak oil” moment gave fuel—pun intended—to growing environmental concerns and led policymakers to consider diversification. Coal rebounded for a spell, and nuclear began to gather steam.

Speaking of nuclear, it was on June 19, 1985, when the Tennessee Valley Authority finally received permission to restart the Browns Ferry Unit 2 reactor after nearly a decade offline due to a fire caused by a candle—yes, a candle. The 1975 incident at Browns Ferry became a landmark case in nuclear safety, leading to stricter regulatory oversight. The Unit 2 restart marked a cautious comeback for U.S. nuclear ambitions, though the public’s trust was still smoldering.

Now, let’s talk hydrogen—on this day in 2003, President George W. Bush’s administration launched a joint initiative between the Department of Energy and the private sector to explore hydrogen fuel cells for automotive and stationary power. Though the so-called “hydrogen highway” never quite materialized, the early 2000s investment set the stage for today’s green hydrogen momentum, especially in Europe and Asia, where electrolyzers are now headline tech.

Geothermal got a rare front-page moment on June 19, 2010, when Iceland announced it had officially exported its first tranche of geothermal expertise to East Africa. Icelandic engineers and investors began work with Kenyan officials to develop the Olkaria geothermal fields. It was the beginning of an ambitious plan to help East Africa reduce dependence on hydropower and diesel, and the ripple effects are still seen today in Kenya’s robust geothermal sector—one of the greenest grids on the continent.

Coal, once the bedrock of the industrial world, took a legal hit on June 19, 2014, when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld key provisions of the EPA’s authority to regulate carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants under the Clean Air Act. The ruling bolstered the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan and gave the renewable sector a policy tailwind. While the legal battles would rage on for years, June 19 marked a turning point—coal was no longer king without contest.

And let’s not forget biomass. On this day in 2009, the European Union formally adopted new biomass sustainability criteria as part of its Renewable Energy Directive. Though often overlooked in the flashier solar and wind markets, biomass became a pillar of Europe’s heating and rural energy solutions—especially in Scandinavian nations, where wood pellets and agricultural waste still power homes and industry.

So, whether we’re talking about candle fires in nuclear reactors, Saudi gushers that rewrote the oil maps, or legislative flicks that signaled coal’s twilight—June 19 is a day that quietly but profoundly shaped the modern energy mosaic.

From black gold to biofuel, from uranium rods to hydrogen cells, today’s energy landscape didn’t just happen. It was engineered—on days like June 19th.

That’s your energy history download. Keep a steady eye on the past to better forecast the future—because in energy, everything is connected.

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