March Matron

He took to flying like a fish out of water who was burning the midnight oil. The Pilot  by Eric Fan

Having been known to mix metaphors, oil (olive and otherwise), fire (figurative and literal), and water (both calm and troubled) feature in a litany of sayings and make some unlikely combinations.

The Children of Israel Crossing the Red Sea  by Frederic Schopin, 1804–1880

Oil Upon Trouble Waters seems to be missing a component and it also sounds slightly biblical. 

The Ship Struck Upon A Rock by Edmund Dulac, 1882-1953  "His presence and advice, like oil upon troubled waters, have composed the contending waves of faction."- Benjamin Rush, 1798 Failing to locate a biblical or Shakespearean source, most phrases claim a nautical or military origin . . .

The Garthsnaid at Sea, 1920's.

and pouring oil on choppy water turns out to be both nautical and literal.

A layer of oil, only a few millimeters thick, will create enough surface tension over water to prevent waves.

Currier and Ives Illustration of Whalers

Sailors have been aware that where sea animals are feeding on oily fish, the ocean is unusually calm. Whalers reported similar calm after harpooned whales spilled blood and oil into the surrounding water . . . aside from the thrashing of enormous mammals while being slaughtered.

Sousse Mosaic Aristotle, Pliny, and Benjamin Franklin described experiments of oil and bodies of water. Franklin was so enamoured, he carried oil with him in a hollow walking stick ready to amaze others should the opportunity present itself.

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill  in the Gulf of Mexico  on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect.

The reaction is also the reason oil spills become slicks and spread so efficiently over bodies of water . . .

PTTEP Australasia's Montara rig explosion  in Australia's offshore petroleum field.

which is good for nobody, although a few big oil proponents have actually suggested intellentionally creating oil slicks in the hope of mitigating sever weather. The new EPA may be going with that theory.

Titanic Lifeboats