Industrially drilled petroleum and its refined products have transformed life and landscapes around the world in ways that are often not visible or recognized. It is difficult to see petro-leum’s shaping force when it forms part of so many of the objects and materials that surround us: the fabric of our clothes, the toys of our children, the asphalt on which we drive, even the food we eat. Petroleum’s influence on daily life is often indirect, such as when its availability influences choices about where one should live or how one should spend one’s leisure time. We take its presence and what it makes possible for granted and have only recently started to track its impact through CO2 emissions, plastic waste, and petrochemical fertilizers. Yet, petroleum and its derivatives have been at work for a century and a half, powering facto-ries, building cities, shaping landscapes, and sustaining nation-states. The diverse spaces of petroleum—oil fields, refineries, company headquarters, gas stations, housing, heritage sites, and even philanthropic structures—are dispersed around the world in uneven ways, facilitating everyday life for some and placing burdens on others. The spatial realities of petroleum and its representation have been game changers in the history of humans. Space is particularly important in the permeation of petroleum use; once established, physical in-frastructures and spaces can shape future developments.