Since it is not my area of expertize - I'll provide
what I know (maybe it will offset my smartass remark
from earlier).  The earliest use I am sure of was in
the late thirties - early forties in the Pacific and
Asian theaters supporting the Chinese against the
Japanese and later during the declared combat.  There
are manifests listing 55 gallon fuel drums as cargo on
the planes.  The 55 gallon drum was not in use in the
European theater.  Became pretty much the standard
method of moving fuels, lubricants, other such fluid
and semi-fluids by 1950, especially by the Korean
conflict.  The 55 gallon container is a jobber
container.  That is, it is used by suppliers.  It was
never part of the oil drilling and production
industry.  Early (1860s on) oil operations used a 45
gallon barrel (supposedly based on 45 gallon wine
barrels) which was purchased at 42 gallons because of
water contamination.  The 42 gallon barrel became a 40
gallon barrel at some point.  The 40 gallon barrels
were changed around 1918 (I think) when they were made
42 gallon barrels again.  The 42 gallon barrel is
still the standard.  It is probable that the 55 gallon
barrel was something that could be researched in the
secondary market for lubricants, maybe kerosene, etc.
I swear, that is all I know.

--- Kris Farmen <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> It's also probably worth mentioning that wood-stave
> oil and water tanks were
> produced clear up into the 1960s; these were made by
> coopers.  I imagine the
> coopering industry was largely mechanized by then,
> but the basic techniques and
> knowledge were, presumably, the same as the Romans
> used.
>
> I remember my dad telling me about assembling a
> 25,000 gallon wood-stave tank
> at Camp Island on Kodiak in the late 50s.  There's a
> good story behind that,
> but I won't digress.  Instead, I'll just repeat my
> query for information about
> the dating of fuel drums.
>
>
> Kris Farmen
> Northern Land Use Research, Inc.
> Fairbanks, Alaska