The British company that first found oil in Iran nearly ran out of money before finding it. In the middle east some oil comes to the surface, and in fact the Muslim world invented distillation in the middle ages. But finding sources to support a commercial oil field is another matter.

Aladdin's lamp would have been an olive-oil lamp. Flammable vapor lamps are comparatively modern.

Before the Renaissance, rock-oil/petroleum was used mostly for waterproofing as tar, with a few other medicinal and military uses.