[Transcriber's Note:
Bold text delimited by equal signs, italics by underscores.]
The Wallsend Slipway & Engineering
WALLSEND-ON-TYNE Company, Ltd.
MARINE ENGINE & BOILER BUILDERS & SHIP REPAIRERS
_Manufacturers of Installations for_
BURNING LIQUID FUEL
[Illustration: Installation mounted on a Tray]
=Horse Power= of Boilers for which Installations have been supplied by
the Company exceeds =3,000,000 h.p.=
Head Office and Works-- WALLSEND-ON-TYNE
Telegraphic Address-- “WALL,” NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE
London Office-- 30 GREAT ST. HELENS. E C. 3
[Illustration]
ANGLO-MEXICAN PETROLEUM CO., LTD.
Exporters and marketers of the products of the Mexican Eagle
Oil Co., Ltd., including Mexican Fuel Oil and Diesel Oil,
Mexphalte, Fluxphalte, Mexican Eagle Bitumen, Lubricants, Gas
Oil, Kerosene and Motor Spirit.
EAGLE OIL TRANSPORT COMPANY, LIMITED.
Owners of the fleet of modern Oil Tank Steamers engaged in the
transport of the above products.
BOWRING PETROLEUM COMPANY, LIMITED.
Marketing Agents in the United Kingdom for Mex Motor Spirit and
Kerosene, etc.
_Head Offices_:
16. FINSBURY CIRCUS.
--LONDON. E.C. 2--
_Telephone:
LONDON WALL 1200 (Twenty Lines)_
[Illustration: Oil Well Supply Co]
_Oil and “OILWELL” have grown up together. The oldest and largest
manufacturers of well drilling tools._
DRILLING PLANT of every description
PUMPING OUTFITS for every service
PIPE-LINES and STORAGE TANKS
[Illustration]
TRADE “OILWELL” MARK
Dashwood House, LONDON, E.C. 2
ANGLO-AMERICAN OIL COMPANY LIMITED
_Importers, Refiners and Distributors_
=_REFINED PETROLEUM OILS_=
WHITE ROSE (Water White), ROYAL DAYLIGHT and
CROWN DIAMOND--for Household use.
ANGLO’S VAPORISING OIL--for Oil Engines, Agricultural Tractors,
etc.
=_MOTOR SPIRIT_=
PRATT’S AVIATION--Refined to super-excellence for Aeroplanes
and Motor Cars.
PRATT’S PERFECTION--for all classes of Motor Cars.
TAXIBUS--for Commercial Vehicles.
ANGLO’S BENZOL--for Motor Cars and Commercial Vehicles.
ANGLO’S VICTORY SPIRIT--a perfect Petrol-Benzol blend.
FUEL OIL--for Diesel Engines, Furnaces, Ships’ Bunkers, etc.
GAS OIL--for Gas-making.
LUBRICATING OILS AND GREASES, PARAFFIN WAX AND SCALE.
NUJOL--Finest Medicinal Oil.
HEAD OFFICE:
36 QUEEN ANNE’S GATE, WESTMINSTER, S.W.1
_Branches and Depots throughout the United Kingdom._
_The Largest Makers of_
OIL STORAGE TANKS
_Tanks of Any Size Supplied and Erected Anywhere._
[Illustration: _WHESSOE FOUNDRY CO., LTD.,_
DARLINGTON, ENGLAND
Established 1790]
PETROLEUM REFINERY PLANTS
Telegrams--
“WHESSOE, LONDON.” “WHESSOE, DARLINGTON.”
London Office:--
106 CANNON STREET, E.C.4
[Illustration: ENGLAND’S FIRST OIL WELL IN DERBYSHIRE
(Drilled under Government authority and brought into production in
June, 1919)
_Frontispiece_]
PITMAN’S COMMON COMMODITIES
AND INDUSTRIES
PETROLEUM
BY
ALBERT LIDGETT
EDITOR OF THE “PETROLEUM TIMES”
LATE EDITOR OF THE “PETROLEUM REVIEW”
LONDON
SIR ISAAC PITMAN & SONS, LTD., 1 AMEN CORNER, E.C.4
BATH, MELBOURNE AND NEW YORK
PRINTED BY SIR ISAAC PITMAN
& SONS, LTD., LONDON, BATH,
MELBOURNE AND NEW YORK
PREFACE
Although numerous volumes have been written upon petroleum, and some
very educational works on this important subject are to be found in
technological literature, it is strange that prior to the appearance
of this little book, it has been impossible to turn to any publication
which deals with this Common Commodity of Commerce in a popular manner.
Of a truth, we to-day live in an age of Oil, for the products of
petroleum are inseparable from our daily life. Refined petroleum
breathes the breath of power to the internal combustion engine which
claims a realm of its own on land and sea, in the air, and under ocean
waters; it also gives artificial light to countless millions in all
corners of the world under a variety of circumstances and dissimilar
conditions, while the wheels of industry unceasingly revolve consequent
upon oil lubrication.
And in no sphere of commercial and industrial activity has greater
progress been made during the past few decades than in regard to the
multiplication in the uses of the products of petroleum. The avenues
for advantageous consumption are constantly increasing, and this to
such an extent that the production of crude petroleum--enormous though
this is--has been outstripped by the demands for the refined product.
In the following pages I have striven to deal with the chief phases of
the petroleum industry in a manner which, I have reason to believe,
will be acceptable to the general reader, and the fact that the volume
is written in language free from technicalities, will, I trust, render
it particularly interesting to those who would know something of that
immense class of commercial products covered by the name “Petroleum.”
ALBERT LIDGETT.
ROYAL AUTOMOBILE CLUB,
PALL MALL,
LONDON, S.W.1.
CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
PREFACE iii
I. PETROLEUM AND ITS ORIGIN 1
II. THE OIL-FIELDS OF THE WORLD 6
III. HOW PETROLEUM IS PRODUCED 41
IV. THE REFINING OF PETROLEUM 51
V. TRANSPORT BY LAND AND SEA 63
VI. PETROLEUM AS FUEL 76
VII. PETROLEUM AS A LIGHTING AGENT 89
VIII. INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES 95
IX. PETROLEUM IN ENGLAND 104
X. PETROLEUM IN THE BRITISH EMPIRE 114
XI. PETROLEUM’S PART IN THE GREAT WAR 123
XII. THE SCOTTISH SHALE-OIL INDUSTRY 132
XIII. A FEW NOTABLE PETROLEUM ENTERPRISES 148
XIV. STATISTICAL 158
INDEX 165
[Illustration:
Taken from an actual photo of a trip spear with mechanic
alongside for comparison of size. This is for 21 inch O.D.
drive pipe. We have facilities for producing the heaviest tools
required.]
The OIL WELL ENGINEERING CO., LTD.
_Works_:
CHEADLE HEATH, STOCKPORT
The largest Manufacturers of Oil Well Drilling Plant and oil Well
Supplies in the British Empire
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
ENGLAND’S FIRST OIL WELL _Frontispiece_
THE GLEN POOL 11
GEOLOGICAL SECTION SHOWING OIL SANDS 13
A GUSHER UNDER CONTROL 15
DERRICK OF AN AMERICAN OIL WELL 17
ROUMANIAN HAND-DUG WELLS 27
BUSTENARI--THE ROUMANIAN OIL REGION 31
EARLY BURMESE OIL PRODUCTION METHODS 34
EARLY JAPANESE DRILLING METHOD 35
VIEW IN THE GALICIAN FIELDS 37
“OILWELL” HEAVY ROTARY OUTFIT 47
PRIMITIVE METHOD OF TRANSPORT 65
OIL PIPE-LINE CONNECTIONS 67
A MAMMOTH TANKER 73
TAKING OIL FUEL ABOARD 81
LIQUID FUEL BURNERS 83
OIL FUEL FOR MARINE PURPOSES 85
THE “SCARAB” OIL BURNER 87
AN OIL COOKER 93
VICKERS’ NEW ENGINE (FRONT VIEW) 99
VICKERS’ NEW ENGINE (REAR VIEW) 99
HIGH DUTY ENGINE FOR LIGHT CRAFT 101
LOW DUTY MARINE ENGINE 101
THE PUMPHERSTON OIL SHALE WORKS 138
SOME BURMAH PRODUCERS 154
THE
PETROLEUM TIMES
PUBLISHED WEEKLY PRICE 6d.
The International
Petroleum Journal
“The Petroleum Times” is Edited by ALBERT LIDGETT and is the most
influential and widely circulated petroleum journal printed in the
United Kingdom.
_The fact that you are reading this advertisement suggests that it has
some interest to you. Then write for a specimen copy which will gladly
be sent._
_Editorial and Publishing Offices_:
BROAD STREET PLACE,
LONDON, E.C.2
PETROLEUM
CHAPTER I
PETROLEUM AND ITS ORIGIN
In dealing with the question of petroleum and its origin, the subject
can well be defined under two headings: one, the origin of the word
“petroleum”; the other, the origin of the mineral itself. As to the
former, this is a matter of historical interest; of the latter, the
question is still in doubt--and the doubt becomes even the more
doubtful, the more the question is debated.
Let us, therefore, take first the word “petroleum” as we know it
to-day. It covers a multitude of products derived from the refining of
crude oil, though the word does not suggest any of them. It is quite
a generic term, and in a general way represents the whole of that
ever-increasing family of hydrocarbons--the refined products of crude
oil. There is no doubt that it derives its name from the Latin _petra
oleum_, which, literally, is rock oil, and equivalents of the name are
found in all languages. Even in modern practice we use the word, though
not in a specific sense, while our own Government usually refers to
“petroleum oil,” which, of course, involves tautology. Crude petroleum
is known throughout the oil-fields of the world as denoting the crude
oil coming from the wells: then we have petroleum spirit, otherwise the
lightest form of refined oil; we have petroleum distillate, designating
an illuminating oil; but, “petroleum oil” is, it is to be regretted,
generally used as suggesting some form of petroleum product.
Though the petroleum industry--in its commercial sense--only goes back
some sixty years, the use of petroleum can be traced to Biblical times,
for was it not the great Prophet Elisha who told the widow to “Go, sell
the oil and pay thy debts and live”?
Job also speaks of the rock which poured him out rivers of oil; in
Maccabees we find that the priests hid the fire which they took from
the altar in a deep pit without water; while Nehemiah called the liquid
which burst into flame and kindled a great fire by the name “Nephthar,
which is as much as to say, a cleansing; but many call it Nephai.” And
so, in many parts of the Old as well as in the New Testament, oil is
clearly referred to, and, in Biblical times, as much later, was looked
upon as a sacred fire.
Many ancient authors make extensive reference to oil, prominent among
them being Herodotus, who described the methods adopted at the pits of
Kirab for the raising of the oil, which liquid “gives off a very strong
odour.”
Petroleum, as known in Biblical times, and as so widely known to-day,
occurs in greater or less quantity throughout the world, and it is
found in the whole range of strata of the earth’s crust, from the
Laurentian rocks to the most recent members of the Quaternary period,
though it is found in commercial quantities almost wholly in the
comparatively old Devonian and Carboniferous formations on the one hand
or in the various divisions of the comparatively young Tertiary rocks
on the other.
The problem of the origin of petroleum has been the subject of
considerable scientific controversy for many years. Not a few of the
leading scientists hold to the theory that petroleum is derived from
metallic carbides lying far beneath the porous strata in which the oil
is stored by Nature, and that even at the present time the process is
in operation. This idea, which may be termed the inorganic theory of
petroleum origin, was considered to have received substantial support
when it was found that the action of water on the carbides of certain
metals resulted in the liberation of hydrocarbons.
The view that petroleum is of organic origin is to-day almost
universally accepted, although there is no general agreement either
as to whether petroleum is derived from vegetable or animal matter,
or as to the forms of life that provided for its genesis. In certain
places in the world--notably on the eastern side of the Caspian Sea
and also near the Mediterranean--there is some conversion of organic
matter into petroleum actually to be seen to-day. It is not difficult,
as the late Sir Boverton Redwood, Bart., pointed out in an address
before the Royal Institution of Great Britain in 1918, to account for
the formation of adequate deposits of the necessary material. In the
comparatively deep and quiescent water along the margin of the land in
past ages, there would be abundant opportunity for the deposition not
only of the remains of marine animals and plants, but also of vegetable
matter brought down to the coast by the water courses, and the changes
which the earth has undergone would result in the burial of these
substances under sedimentary mineral matter, the deposits thus formed
being ultimately, as the result of further alterations in the earth’s
surface, frequently found occupying positions far removed from the sea,
and sometimes beneath immense thicknesses of subsequent deposits.
That vegetable matter may be the source of certain petroleums is an
opinion that has found increasing evidence to support it. There are two
kinds of vegetable matter which are possible, terrestrial and aquatic,
and in the deltaic conditions that characterize so many oil-fields,
either could be equally well appealed to as a source of accumulation.
The extensive coal and lignite deposits in many geological periods
bear eloquent testimony to the presence of carbonaceous matter far
in excess of that required to provide proved supplies of petroleum.
Every important coal-field demonstrates the fact that vegetable matter
can be partially converted into bituminous compounds or hydrocarbons
by natural processes. Marsh gases often occur in great quantities in
faulted zones in the coal measures, though the bituminous substances
found in coal are not true bitumens that dissolve in the usual
solvents, while the tars derived from the destructive distillation of
coal in no way resemble natural petroleums or the products of oil-shale
distillation.
In spite, however, of the outstanding differences between petroleum,
oil-shales and coal, I might here point out in favour of the vegetable
theory of origin, that actual petroleum and true bitumens have been
found in some coals, though in small quantities, while solid paraffins
have been extracted by means of pyridine and chloroform. Again, low
temperature distillations have yielded petroleum hydrocarbons, all
of which appear to indicate that even when coal was the overwhelming
product, at certain times and places the conditions were merging into
those which could yield petroleum. There is no doubt that each of the
various views expressed as to the organic origin of petroleum contains
elements of truth, and it is reasonable to assume that a substance so
varied in its physical and chemical properties as petroleum has not in
all cases been created under precisely the same conditions, or from an
exactly similar source.
Summing up the whole question of origin, however, the balance of
opinion points to its being the result of organic action, and that the
petroleum which we now find in the Palaeozoic and Tertiary rocks is
substantially of the same geological age as the rocks themselves.
Volumes of technological literature have been written upon this complex
question of petroleum origin, and though these may be of intense
interest to the student of geology, the brief references which I have
already given to the question are sufficient for the purpose of this
little publication.
The geographical distribution of petroleum throughout the two
hemispheres is no less wide than the geological. The deposits mainly
occur along well-defined lines, often associated with the mountain
ranges. This is chiefly due to the formation, in the elevatory process,
of minor folds which have arrested and collected the oil in richly
productive belts.