TRANSPORT BY LAND AND SEA
The remarkably perfect methods by which petroleum and its products
are transported by land and sea before they reach the consumer may
not at first sight appear to be anything but commonplace, but a
moment’s reflection will be sufficient to suggest that a vast and
complete organization must be required in order that petroleum may be
brought from practically the ends of the earth to the consumer in the
most remote village in the British Isles. But it is the demands of
necessity that have been responsible for the building up of this vast
organization of transportation which represents, in the United States
alone, the investment of many millions of pounds sterling.
Taking first the methods of oil transportation by land, in no other
oil-producing country do we find such an elaborate system for dealing
with enormous quantities of petroleum as in America, for it is safe to
say that at least 500,000 barrels of crude oil have to be dealt with
daily at the present time.
Going back to the time when petroleum first became a commercial
commodity--when the first wells in Oil Creek commenced to open up
a period of new prosperity for the United States--these wells were
situated so close to the water that their product could easily be
loaded into canoes and barges, and floated down the Alleghany river. In
the dry season, the flow was insufficient to float the craft, and then
some hundreds of the boats, carrying each from 50 to 1,000 barrels,
would be assembled in a mill-pond near the wells, and the water
impounded while the loading was in progress. Then the gates would be
opened, and the fleet, carried on the flood of rushing water, would
be hurried down the river in charge of pilots. The fleet of creek and
river boats engaged in this novel work at one time numbered 2,000.
But, as the production of oil increased, and new districts were
successfully tapped, it became obvious that some different method of
handling the crude oil would have to be adopted. The inland wells
could not get rid of their production, and it is not surprising to
find that at one time--about 1862--crude oil prices at the well fell
to 10 cents per barrel. A system of horse haulage was initiated, and
in time thousands of animals were required to haul the oil from the
inland wells to shipping points. The waggon train of the oil country
in the pre-pipe-line days at its maximum consisted of 6,000 two-horse
teams and waggons, and a traveller in the oil region in those early
sixties could not lose sight of an endless train of waggons each laden
with from five to seven barrels. The roads were almost bottomless, and
the teamsters tore down fences and drove where they liked. These men,
always of the roving, picturesque type, would earn anything from 10 to
25 dollars per day, spending the most part in revelry on the Saturday
night.
It was at this time that a Bill was introduced into the States
legislature authorizing the construction of a pipe-line from Oil
Creek to a spot known as Kittanning, but the opposition of 4,000
teamsters defeated the Bill and the first effort to organize an oil
pipe-line company. The modest beginning of the present-day system of
oil transportation on land by pipe-line was due to the enterprise of
a Jerseyman named Hutchings, who laid a 2-inch pipe from some wells
to the Humbolt refinery. The teamsters, foreseeing the possibilities
of this innovation, proceeded to tear up the line, and warned the
oil-producers not to adopt these new methods of oil transportation.
But Hutchings was undismayed, for he laid a second line, this being
composed of cast-iron joints caulked with lead. Although this
was impracticable, the teamsters again wrought vengeance on the
proposition, and completely destroyed it. Hutchings still persisted in
his efforts, but died--disappointed and penniless--a genius living a
little before his time.
[Illustration: A PRIMITIVE METHOD OF TRANSPORTING OIL]
At the end of 1865, a Henry Harley commenced the laying of a pipe-line
to the terminus of the Oil Creek railroad, but teamsters cut the pipes,
burned the collecting tanks, and retarded the work in every possible
way. Armed guards eventually came on the scene, the mob was quelled and
dispersed, and the line completed. It was of 2-inch diameter, and laid
to handle 800 barrels of oil daily: this was the first successful and
profitable pipe-line on record for the handling of oil.
From this time, the number of pipe-lines have multiplied, until to-day
there are thousands of them scattered throughout every oil-producing
field of America. The first long main transportation line for oil
was laid in 1880 from Butler County to Cleveland, a distance of over
100 miles, and immediately after its completion, trunk lines were
commenced from the Bradford oil region to the Atlantic seaboard. The
popularity of this new method of oil transportation may be judged from
the fact that within three years from the completion of these first
propositions, the National Transit Company possessed over 3,000 miles
of oil pipe-lines, and had iron tank storage for 35,000,000 barrels of
crude oil.
Then a few master minds came to the front, and loyally supported by
Mr. John D. Rockefeller, of Standard Oil fame, they undertook the
herculean task of practically girdling the States with a system of oil
pipe-lines that has no parallel anywhere. They eliminated the jaded
horses, oil-boats, wooden tankage, and slow freights, tedious methods,
and questionable practices of handling petroleum, and substituted
therefor the stem pump, the iron conduit, the steel tank storage, and
systematic and businesslike methods which soon commanded the confidence
and respect of all oil-producers. They extended their pipe-lines to
practically every producing well and established a transportation
system which serves the industry to-day as no other on earth is
served. The advantages of the modern pipe-line to the oil-producer are
obvious. A pipe-line connection to a producer’s tank ensures prompt
service and a cash market for his product at all times. The small line
connected with his tank conveys the crude oil therefrom, either by
gravity or by means of a pump, into a receiving tank of the gathering
or field lines of the pipe-line system, from which it is pumped into
the main trunk pipe-lines to the refineries.
[Illustration: OIL PIPE-LINE CONNECTIONS IN THE AMERICAN FIELDS]
The system by which the producer can have payment for his oil at
any time, for he is credited with its value when it once enters the
pipe-line, is the perfection of simplicity, accuracy, and efficiency.
The pipe-line of which the gathering or field lines are composed varies
in diameter from 2 to 8 inches, the joints of which are screw threaded.
The main trunk lines are from 6 to 10 inches in diameter, and pumping
stations, supplied with powerful plant driven by steam or internal
combustion engines of the Diesel type, are located at suitable points
of the line. According to the nature of the crude oils to be passed
through the pipe-line must the erection of pumping houses be governed:
for instance, in handling the heavy Californian or Mexican crudes, the
pumping stations have to be much nearer each other than when a lighter
crude oil is transported. Some of the heavier oils have, in fact, to be
heated before they enter the pipes at all.
As already mentioned, the total oil transported to-day by the American
pipe-line system exceeds half a million barrels daily. The lines
themselves--all laid, of course, below ground--are so unobtrusive and
do their work so quietly and unseen, that they attract no attention,
and yet they are vastly important to not only the business of the
States, but to those myriads of consumers abroad.
It is, in fact, impossible to over-estimate the importance of this
up-to-date system of oil transportation in the United States as it
exists to-day. To show the impossibility of conducting the present-day
American petroleum industry without the use of pipe-lines, let me give
a few facts. The large oil-tank cars, which are not unusual sights on
our railways, hold, at the maximum, about 25 tons of oil. Excluding
California altogether from these illustrations, the half-a-million
barrels of oil which are transported daily in the States by pipe-lines
would fill over 2,500 tank cars. Taking 25 cars to make up a freight
train, it would require fully 100 trains daily to transport the oil
that now goes by pipe-line, and inasmuch as it is estimated that the
oil on the average is transported overland (or, rather, under-land)
1,000 miles, it would require, approximately, 200,000 railroad tank
cars to do the daily work in connection with the transport of oil in
the United States east of the Rocky Mountains, for the average movement
of tank cars is 30 miles daily, and all empty cars must be returned.
No less than 8,000 railroad engines would be required to do this work,
which, on the face of it, is a railway impossibility.
I am afraid I have devoted more space to the question of pipe-line
transport in the States than the confines of this little work warrants,
but the subject is one of great interest to all who would know the
magnitude of the organization which is comprised in the limits of the
petroleum industry.
The United States, however, is but one of the large oil-producing
countries where the pipe-line system for the land transport of oil has
become the backbone of transport. In Russia, for instance, the fields
of production are situated hundreds of miles from the exporting ports,
and, following upon the principles which obtain in the United States,
the pipe-line system had, perforce, to be adopted. In this respect,
however, Russia has still a great deal to learn from our Western
friends, and the conservative policy which permeated the Russian Empire
as a whole has precluded the making of much headway.
The Russian oil-fields--those of Baku and Grosny--are situated at great
distance from the coast, and the necessity of connecting both fields
with the export port of Batoum, on the Black Sea, has frequently been
put forward as a project offering the one solution of the difficulties
attending the retention of a large export oil trade. The Grosny
pipe-line is still a scheme for future solution, but that affecting
Baku has been solved by the laying of a pipe-line from Baku to Batoum.
This line, which is approximately 650 miles long, runs direct between
the two oil centres and, assuming it operates 24 hours in the day, has
a capacity of transporting over 3,000 tons of oil daily. Inasmuch as
the Russian oil refineries are at Baku, the line is used solely for
the transportation of the refined products. The line itself is laid
alongside the railway line of the Transcaucasian Railway, at a depth of
4 feet, but many strange stories are related as to the tapping of it at
various points, and a lucrative trade being done in the oil so caught.
When normal conditions return to Russia and the petroleum industry
rights itself, Russian petroleum products will again come on the
international markets, and in this respect the Grozny oil will be able
to secure an outlet via Novorossisk.
Roumania can also boast of a main trunk pipe-line for refined products
from the inland refineries direct to the port of Constantza. This
important project, which has been carried out practically by the
Government itself, was just about ready for service when the European
War broke out: it has, therefore, had little time in which to display
its practical use to the petroleum industry at large. When one
recollects that Roumania’s future, so far as the petroleum industry
is concerned, lies in the direction of the building up of its already
established export trade in petroleum products, the necessity for
such a trunk pipe-line to the seaboard has been obvious for many
years. Unlike the case of the United States, there are no interesting
events to recall which delayed the advent of this new form of land oil
transportation. There is only one oil pipe-line of any considerable
length in the United Kingdom and this runs across Scotland from Old
Kilpatrick (on the west) to Grangemouth (on the east coast), its
terminal being in close proximity to the naval base at Rosyth. The
line, which is 36 miles long, was laid to circumvent the activity of
enemy submarines, but was only completed in November, 1918, after the
conclusion of the European hostilities.
The one other important oil-pipe-line which calls for mention is that
connecting the oil-fields of Persia with the coast. In this scheme, the
British Government is heavily interested, and, though there has been
much criticism of its action, there is no doubt that, in due time, the
Persian fields will play an important part in the supply of petroleum
products to England, and, in that connection, the Persian pipe-line
must naturally prominently figure, since, without it, there would be
numerous difficulties to be contended with in getting the oil to the
coast.
The carrying of large quantities of petroleum products over the seas of
the world is a subject which has taxed the minds of experts quite as
much as that of land transport. For many years it was the rule to ship
petroleum products overseas in the ordinary barrels (approximately, 42
gallons each) to the consuming countries. It was a costly business,
for, apart from the initial cost of the barrels themselves, they
took up a very considerable space on the vessels, which was not
proportionate with the quantity of oils carried. Leakage also played
a very important rôle in this ocean transport, and, generally, the
principle left much to be desired. The _Atlantic_ was doubtless the
first vessel designed to carry petroleum in bulk from America, but
records show that some years previously--in 1863--a Mr. Henry Duncan,
of Kent, sent the first oil-carrying vessel to Europe. The vessel,
however, never completed her voyage, for she was lost in the Gulf of
St. Lawrence, just as she was starting on her trip across the Atlantic.
The _Charles_--quite a small vessel--also played a part in the early
days of bulk oil transport across the Atlantic, for this steamer was,
I believe, the first to employ iron tanks for the bulk transport of
petroleum. After these first few attempts to convey petroleum in
bulk from continent to continent, tank vessels steadily wiped the
barrel-carrying boats off the seas. It was found that not only did oils
carried in bulk take up but one-half the space of those in barrels,
but the cost of the oak-staved barrels themselves (usually 5s. each)
was obviated. At first, sailing ships were adopted to meet the newer
requirements, but later, vessels propelled by steam were introduced.
At first the shipbuilders had nothing to guide them in the shape of
practical experience of bulk oil carriers, but, from small things,
a great ocean trade in bulk petroleum products soon grew. It is
interesting to note the enterprise which English shipbuilders displayed
in this new method of handling petroleum for ocean transport, for
during at least two decades the vast bulk of construction of oil
carriers took place in English shipbuilding yards. The opening of the
Far Eastern fields of production led to the construction of a large
number of oil tankers--each of increasing size--for Messrs. M. Samuel
and Company, and these were named after various shells. The fleet of
“Shell” tankers to-day ranks as one of the finest in the world, and
forms the connecting link between the prolific oil-producing properties
of the “Shell” Transport and Trading Company, Ltd., in the Far East,
and the demand for petroleum products in this and other countries, the
vessels themselves being owned by the Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Company,
Ltd., one of the influential owning interests in the wide ramifications
of the “Shell” Company.
For several years the oil tanker _Narragansett_, owned by the
Anglo-American Oil Company, Ltd. (London), held claim to being the
largest bulk oil carrier in the world, for the good ship had a capacity
of nearly 11,000 tons of products. The size of this vessel may be
judged from the fact that she had a length between perpendiculars
of over 510 feet, with a 63 feet beam, while her moulded depth was
42 feet. This vessel, which marked a distinct step forward in oil
tanker construction, belonged to Lloyd’s A1 three-deck class. The
Anglo-American Oil Company has shown its belief in oil fuel for ocean
power purposes by contracting for internal combustion-engined tankers,
and the first of this class was launched in November, 1919.
[Illustration: ONE OF THE MAMMOTH TANKERS OF THE EAGLE OIL COMPANY’S
FLEET]
It was left to the enterprise of the Eagle Oil Transport Company--that
important concern associated with Lord Cowdray’s immense oil
organization for handling Mexican petroleum products--to make what
will ever go down as the most bold policy of increasing the size of
oil tankers by 50 per cent. upon all predecessors. Some six years ago,
just when the Mexican fields were commencing to pour forth their flood
of oil for the world’s requirements, the Eagle Oil Transport Company
included in its programme of activities the building of an immense
fleet of oil tankers, and it was decided that a number of these should
each have a capacity of 15,000 tons of petroleum products. There were
many who asserted that the limit to the size of oil tankers had been
reached, but, undaunted, the Company went forth with their policy.
It was a bold stroke, yet a successful one, for not only have the
vessels proved to be very practical, but they have taught a lesson in
economy of ocean transport which has been seriously taken to heart by
practically all engaged in ocean oil transport.
I had the honour of being one of the invited guests at the launch
of the first of these gigantic oil carriers, and of subsequently
experiencing a trip in the mammoth floating “tank.” The vessel behaved
admirably at sea, and in a chat with the designer, I recollect asking
if there were any reason to believe that the limit in size had been
reached. The reply was pointed: “So long as we can have loading and
discharging berths large enough to enable such large vessels to be
manipulated, we can easily go beyond the present size.” Events have
proved that the policy adopted by the Eagle Oil Transport Company was
justifiable, for already a new oil tanker, the _San Florentino_, has
been built, having a capacity of over 18,000 tons.
Before leaving this interesting subject of ocean oil transportation,
I should like to emphasize the distinct step forward which is marked
by these latest oil tankers. To-day, we have entered the era when
oil fuel has passed its experimental stages and become one of the
greatest boons to those associated with the navigation of the seas.
The ease with which oil fuel is handled is remarkable, for vessels of
the largest size--that is, those using oil instead of coal for power
purposes--could replenish their stores within a few hours at any oil
port. In the transport of petroleum by the modern tankers, the taking
on board of a full cargo is accomplished in about a single day, thanks
to the most improved means of pumping oil from the shore tanks through
flexible pipes. The great oil tankers trading between this and other
countries and Mexico, load up off the Mexican coast by means of a
submarine pipe-line, and, reckoning but fourteen return trips per
annum, it will easily be apparent what immense stores of petroleum
can with ease be brought to the centres of consumption. Compare this
with the primitive methods of transport in barrels, and it will be
readily seen with what rapidity the hands of progress have moved during
comparatively recent years.
The vast majority of oil tankers to-day, true to their calling,
derive their power from oil, for they burn it under their furnaces,
and, therefore, are not liable to those tedious delays so inseparable
from the use of coal, and should severe storms beset their passage in
Mid-Atlantic, then a little oil pumped overboard will quell the most
turbulent sea and permit a safe passage onward.
It is evident, however, that the motor-engined oil tanker will be the
order of the future, for already vessels are being built which utilize
oil fuel internally--a much more economical process than burning it
under boilers.