This brief essay reviews the macro framework of oil and economy in Mexico in the early days of the oil industry, from 1900 to 1938. The first section displays the figures of production at the world level and shows how Mexico become a major oil producer in the 1920s. The second section look at the Mexican economy of the first third of the century followed by a third section on the importance of the oil sector in terms of trade and fiscal income. The last section reviews the literature and the outlooks of the contemporaries over the development of the oil industry in the early part of the 20th century. The paper will be of use for those producing in depth analyses of the Mexican oil industry in this period.