This paper discusses the present status of the bibliographic database industry, reviews the development of online databases of interest to the petroleum industry, and considers future developments in online searching and their effect on libraries and information centers. Three groups of databases are described: (1) databases developed by the American Petroleum Institute (API), including APILIT (corresponding to "API Abstracts/Literature"), APIPAT (corresponding to "API Abstracts/Patents"), and P/E NEWS, which contains references to petroleum and energy business news; (2) the GeoRef database produced by the American Geological Institute (corresponding to "Bibliography and Index of Geology"); and (3) the Petroleum Abstracts or TULSA database, produced by the University of Tulsa (Oklahoma) (corresponding to the printed journal, "Petroleum Abstracts"). Other activities of the University of Tulsa Information Services Department are also described. A glossary of terms and a 27-item bibliography conclude the paper. (ESR)