THE BAKU OIL FIELDS
Crossing the Black Sea, we leave the steamer at Batum and take the train
for Baku, the commercial centre of the greatest oil field in the
world--a region where the supply of petroleum and natural gas seems
almost inexhaustible. Immense subterranean oil reservoirs underlie this
entire region and extend eastward under the Caspian Sea and beyond to
the Balkan hills.
Not only do oil and gas exude from the ground, but, as in the California
fields, they come up through the sea-bottom; the oil floats on the
surface of the water and the gas, pure as that used in our cities,
passes off into the air. In several places gas which bubbles up through
the sea-water may be ignited; then for a long distance the sea seems to
be aflame. In many places on the land a fire for lighting or heating
purposes is made by thrusting a pipe down into the ground and igniting
the gas which rises in the tube.
The waters of the Caspian Sea along the Baku shore are usually fine for
bathing, but if the wind blows inland for a while the oil floating on
its surface accumulates, forming a black scum on the top, putting an end
to the bathers' sport until an offshore wind sets in.
Ten miles from Baku, once upon a time, there was a temple over a cleft
in the rocks from which gas arises. The gas was kept burning, tended by
Parsee priests, for more than two thousand years and until the advent of
the modern oil well. This flame was a special object of adoration by the
fire-worshippers who were the followers of Zoroaster, and many went
there to pay homage to it.
In this region one may travel for miles and miles without seeing a tree,
shrub, or blade of grass. The landscape consists of a rolling surface of
rocks and sand. It is barren, dry, and destitute of all objects of
interest. Sometimes for six months or more not a drop of rain falls to
lay the dust. If we go into the section where oil-wells are sunk, a
slight relief to the view is afforded by the mounds of sand marking the
sites of oil wells, derricks, the inky petroleum lakes, and the huge
iron reservoirs. But all around is dry and dusty save where the oil has
mingled with the earth; there the surroundings are not only unpleasant
to sight and smell but ruinous to peace of mind as well.
For twenty-five centuries this region has been famous for its petroleum,
and for upward of a thousand years the surrounding peoples have had
recourse to these springs to obtain supplies of oil for medicinal and
domestic purposes. Herodotus has given an interesting description of
them. Even in the early part of the twelfth century petroleum was an
important article of export from Baku. Crude petroleum was used to
anoint camels for mange. In the first part of the eighteenth century
Peter the Great annexed Baku to Russia. After his death it was ceded
back to Persia; but in 1801 it was again annexed to Russia.
To-day Baku is one of the important commercial cities of the Russian
Empire. Its shipping is immense and to further its commerce there are
magnificent docks. The city is built on the shores of a large bay,
sheltered from adverse winds by an island that acts as a breakwater. The
water-front has an anchorage for thousands of vessels. One may walk
along the strand for eight miles and find ships lined up in front of the
city the entire distance.
The Caspian is filled with various kinds of fish, and while bathing one
might reasonably have the impression that he was swimming in an
aquarium. In fact, this place is an ideal one for an Izaak Walton. On
the islands beyond the peninsula, projecting out from the Baku section,
petroleum gas has flamed for centuries, lighting the heavens at night
with a lurid glare that is visible far out at sea.
In Baku Bay, between two peninsulas, there was a spot, now
commercialized into a producing oil well, where the gas came to the
surface with sufficient force to upset small boats. Many of the oil
wells are spouters for a long time after they are first bored, and when
they cease to spout they can frequently be made to renew their activity
by deeper boring.
Wells have been pumped for years without the level of the oil being
lowered in the slightest. Some of the wells which have caught fire
accidentally have burned for years, sending up their pillars of fire to
a great height. In a few instances the richest wells have made the
owners practically bankrupt by overwhelming the buildings on adjoining
property with sand and petroleum, spreading ruin far and wide before the
flow could be checked.
A majority of the great oil wells are about ten miles from Baku, and a
dozen pipe-lines convey the petroleum from them to Black Town, a suburb
of Baku, where it is stored and refined. From one well alone the
escaping oil would have brought more than five million dollars had it
been saved.
Seemingly the crust of the earth for hundreds of miles around acts like
a huge gasometer pressing down on the pent-up gases with its weight.
Since the Caspian Sea is eighty feet below sea level, it is probable
that the land bordering the sea has sunk since the gases and oil were
formed. And this would, in part at least, account for the enormous
pressure.
The spouting oil wells are called fountains. Some of them have yielded
two million gallons each day for months, sending up jets three or four
hundred feet high with a roar that could be heard several miles away.
Great difficulty was found at first in stopping the flow when necessary
by capping or gagging the wells, but after a time a sliding valve-cap
was invented, capable of checking the flow of the most violent well. In
order to prevent the enormous pressure from bursting the pipe and
tearing up the ground, as soon as the pipe has been sunk part way the
earth is excavated around it and the excavation is filled with cement.
[Illustration: Landing-place for commerce on the Caspian Sea]
It is said that one of these gushers threw up in a day more oil than is
produced by all the wells in the United States. One well spouted oil for
months before it could be gagged, and in the meantime flooded the
surrounding country. Millions of gallons were burned to get rid of it
and millions more were diverted into the Caspian Sea. Two wells are
reported to have thrown up in less than a month thirty million gallons
each.
At first sand is thrown out with the oil, and frequently it is ejected
with such force that a plate of iron three inches thick struck by the
stream is worn through in less than a day by this liquid sand blast.
When the wells cease spouting and it is not deemed advisable to bore
deeper, pumping is employed. Generally the oil coming from the wells is
conducted into large, carefully tamped excavations in the ground forming
ponds or lakes. In these huge reservoirs the sand and heavier parts soon
sink, making the bottom impervious. After the settling the petroleum is
either pumped into large iron tanks or sent directly to the refinery by
pipe-lines.
Since petroleum is vastly cheaper than coal, the steamers plying on the
Caspian Sea and the locomotives of many of the Russian railroads use oil
for fuel. At one time so great was the accumulation of petroleum that it
sold at the wells for a few cents a ton. A fleet of tank-steamers
conveys the oil products to the interior of Russia by the Caspian Sea
and Volga River route.
The crude petroleum of Baku yields a lower percentage of kerosene than
the American wells, but it contains more lubricating oil. Millions of
gallons of lubricating oil are shipped from Baku each year to all parts
of Europe. On the opposite side of the Caspian there are great cliffs of
mineral wax such as is obtained from petroleum and used extensively in
the manufacture of paraffin candles.
More than two hundred different products are made from petroleum, among
the chief of which are kerosene, lubricating oil, benzine, gasoline,
vaseline, and paraffin.