PETROLEUM IN THE BRITISH EMPIRE
The desire that the British Empire should be self-supporting in every
possible way has been the predominating idea of our statesmen for
many years: it is to be regretted, however, that such little progress
has been recorded in the direction of the achievement of a practical
result. This remark applies to many commodities, yet to none more so
than to petroleum and its products. To-day, as much as at any preceding
time, the Empire is dependent upon foreign sources of supply for the
vast bulk of its petroleum products. It is true that in the United
Kingdom there is a growing production of oil from the shale-fields
of Scotland, but this total represents but a fraction of the large
quantities of products which are annually required to meet the
ever-increasing demands in commercial and domestic circles.
At the outbreak of the European War, it was forcibly brought home to us
as a nation that we were in a position regarding our petroleum supplies
of absolute dependence upon other countries. The refined products
were an essential part of the war, for without them it would have
been impossible to have continued for almost a single day, and yet,
practically every gallon used had to be transported thousands of miles,
and from a country which at that time was neutral. To make matters
even worse, the Continental sources of supply from which we had been
previously drawing large quantities of petroleum were closed to export,
for, through the Dardanelles, the Roumanian and Russian export ports
were effectively shut off from the outside world.
Fortunately for Great Britain, the United States came forward with
the offer of all the petroleum products required for the successful
prosecution of the war, and we owe to the United States alone all
success which has been the natural result of possessing ample
requirements of petroleum products both on sea and land.
The fact, nevertheless, stands out tragically prominent that we as a
nation have not developed our own oil resources in a manner we ought to
have done, although everyone conversant with the oil business has been
for years advocating the giving of serious attention to this important
subject. To-day, speculative drilling for petroleum is proceeding in
England, and it is to be hoped that some success will be ultimately
recorded, but, inasmuch as I dealt with the question of Petroleum in
England in the previous chapter, I will at the moment pass over this
very interesting phase of the problem, and briefly look at the subject
from an Empire point of view. Under the British Flag, we already
have, or control, some excellent oil-fields in Burmah, Persia, Egypt,
Trinidad, and Assam, and each producing steadily increasing quantities
of crude oil. The Burmah fields have achieved fame mainly owing to
the very large profits made by the chief operating company--the
Burmah Oil Company, Ltd., whose head offices are at Glasgow. These
have of recent years been developed upon most up-to-date lines, and
the producing limits of the territory greatly extended, until now the
annual crude oil production is upwards of 1,000,000 tons. The fields
of Persia are very prolific, and their control to-day is in the hands
of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, Ltd., an influential concern largely
controlled by the British Government, by reason of the investment of
large sums of public moneys a few years ago. The development of the
Persian fields is more or less in its initial stages, and though huge
quantities of oil have already been produced therefrom, the limits of
the presumably oil-bearing areas have by no means been defined. In
order to facilitate the export of Persian oil, a pipe-line has been
laid from the fields to Abadan, on the Persian Gulf, and a programme
has already been laid down under which large quantities of Persian
petroleum products will come upon the English markets.
The Egyptian oil-fields have lately witnessed developments upon an
important scale, thanks to the enterprise of the Anglo-Egyptian
Oil-fields, Ltd., a concern closely allied with the “Shell”
Combination, and having as its Chairman, Sir Marcus Samuel, Bart.
Commercial supplies of crude oil have been found at several points near
the coast of the Gulf of Suez, and a large refinery has been built for
the refining of the oil. Down to 1914, the only oil finds of importance
had been at Gemsah, where a number of oil gushers were struck, but
the field there proved to be one of most irregular formation, and
none of the wells gave anything like a permanent yield. Fortunately,
in that year a field was discovered at Hurgada, the formation of
which was found to be singularly regular, and the yield of which has
steadily increased until, at the time of writing, the production of
crude oil in it is over 15,000 tons per month. That additional wells
have not been sunk and the field further increased has been primarily
due to the difficulties of obtaining the necessary plant under war
conditions. Some very large wells have already been brought in, but,
so far, the petroleum industry in Egypt is quite in its infancy. It is
quite obvious, however, that in the next few years the production of
petroleum in Egypt will be increasingly large, and the developments
are bound to have a significant bearing upon the oil situation
generally.
The same remarks equally apply to the Trinidad fields, where the
anticipations of those associated with the pioneer oil operations have
been more than fulfilled. Some prolific fields have been opened up,
and the production to-day is such that an export trade of considerable
magnitude can be maintained. Developments upon the Island were
impeded by the total absence of roads in the oil districts, and much
pioneer work had to be undertaken before it was possible to commence
the serious exploitation of the fields themselves. The crude oil of
Trinidad is of both the light and the heavy grades, the former showing
remarkable percentages of motor spirit, while the latter is used not
only as fuel oil but also for the treatment of roads so as to render
them dustless. It is in Trinidad that there is the famous pitch lake,
from which for many years large quantities of asphalt have been removed
and exported for a variety of purposes. Trinidad asphalt, in fact,
is well known all over the world. The potentialities of the Island
are rapidly being appreciated, for its geographical position is such
that would make it a practical base for the “oiling” of the great
ocean-going vessels which are rapidly passing over from coal to fuel
oil burning.
While on the subject of oil-fields which are under the British Flag,
mention must be made of Canada, whose oil industry has been developed
for many years. The principal producing fields are in Ontario, and the
town of Petrolia is the centre of the petroleum interests. But the
wells are not of the prolific class, and almost without exception show
a very poor return for operating. Many of them are sunk only to the
shallow strata, and their operation would certainly be profitless were
not a system employed by which quite a number of small producing wells
are pumped by central power. From time to time, Canada has experienced
various oil booms, one of the most recent being that which occurred
in Calgary, in 1914. A well showed a small production of high-grade
oils, and immediately the country for miles round became the centre of
an oil fever, which gradually died down when a number of unsuccessful
developments took place. To-day, the output of the Canadian fields
is steadily declining, and all efforts to stimulate the production
have so far failed. Even a Government bounty of 1½ cents a gallon of
oil produced has failed to encourage an increase in output, and it
is evident that, unless new fields are opened out, the future offers
little hope.
The total production of petroleum to-day by the oil-fields developed
in the British Empire represents but about 2 per cent. of the world’s
total petroleum output: it is therefore clear that, if we intend
to secure our oil supplies in the future from territory under the
British Flag, large supplementary sources of supply must be found. It
is doubtful whether any additional liquid oil regions will be found
to produce oil in commercial quantity, for, though several attempts
have been made in various parts with this end in view, they have not
achieved success, and numerous instances might be quoted where the
employment of British capital in an endeavour to bring about this much
desired result has met with failure.
The question then arises: Is it possible to augment considerably
Empire-produced oils from other means of development? In this
direction, the future is full of promise, for, though Nature has not
given the Empire freely of liquid oil-producing fields, there are
immense areas of oil-bearing shales at home and in our Dominions
overseas which can, without great difficulty, be turned into most
useful account. It is well known that great deposits of retortable
material exist within the Empire’s bounds, and many of these deposits
are exceedingly rich. At the moment, however, scarcely any have been
exploited, and none adequately developed. From time to time, many
samples of oil-bearing shales from various parts of the Empire have
been sent to this country for analysis, and these have usually been put
through Scottish retorts with varying results.
But the unsatisfactory analyses have not been due to the qualities
of the shale or torbanite examined, but to the methods by which
the distillations were carried out. The well-known consulting oil
engineer--Mr. E. H. Cunningham-Craig--made a special point of this in a
most interesting article which recently appeared in one of the Empire
magazines, and he pointed out that the reasons for the unsatisfactory
conclusions arrived at were very simple and obvious. The Scottish
retorts are designed to deal effectually with highly inspissated and,
as a rule, not very rich, oil-shales. The recovery of the maximum
amount of sulphate of ammonia is a desideratum; a sufficient supply
of incondensable gases to fire the retort must be produced; while
the recovery of the lighter fractions (motor spirit) of the material
treated was not an object of the first consideration. For these
purposes, says Mr. Cunningham-Craig, large and high vertical retorts
are used, the temperature of distillation is comparatively high,
superheated steam is blown into the retorts, and a fairly complete
extraction of volatile matter is achieved. But to apply such methods to
a very rich and fresh torbanite--such as the richer shales of New South
Wales--is absurd, involving many practical difficulties and not giving
the most remunerative results.
Similarly, the rich oil-shales of New Brunswick (Canada), though more
nearly allied to the Scottish shales, differ from them both chemically
and physically to such an extent as to require different treatment. Let
me now briefly refer to the deposits which are known in the Dominions
and Colonies that give promise of yielding oil in commercial quantities
by destructive distillation. I will first take the shales of Canada,
for though, as I have pointed out, the Dominion’s production of liquid
oil is steadily decreasing, there are numerous deposits of shales which
only await careful exploitation and development in order to render
Canada a petroleum-producing country of considerable magnitude. The
oil-shales of New Brunswick have been known for many years, yet only
a fraction of the area has been yet prospected. Experiments with the
shales have shown that they are capable of producing nearly 50 gallons
of crude oil the ton of shale treated, while ammonium sulphate has been
produced at the remarkable proportion of 77 lb. a ton. Albert County is
one of the best shale-fields, and it is here that a Government scheme
has now been promulgated. The shales of Nova Scotia are likewise to be
commercially developed, but so far no serious attempt has been proposed
to deal with the enormous areas in Newfoundland, the Province of
Quebec, and other already known regions of Canadian oil-shales.
Australia can boast of very large areas of shales: some deposits
have been operated for several years, but others are still awaiting
development. From a variety of causes, however, the shale-oil industry
of Australia has never been set upon a profitable footing. The
Commonwealth Oil Corporation some years ago set out to accomplish
much, but the only thing which it seemed to do with energy was to
sail to destruction. Its failure cannot be said to have been due to
any absence of the material it set out to treat for petroleum, for at
every turn enormous quantities were opened up. It would appear that the
immensity of the possibilities which awaited its operations was one
of the prime reasons for its premature decay, while there is no doubt
that the system it employed was by no means the best for treating the
shales. A more simple and less expensive method of retorting the shales
would doubtless ensure successful working. In Queensland, Tasmania, and
New Zealand the presence of these shales has been proved over extensive
areas, and though for the most part they have so far been neglected,
there is reason to hope that, in the not distant future, the advantage
to be derived from their commercial exploitation will be the more
widely appreciated. A most lucrative industry could be built up by the
Commonwealth of Australia by the distillation of the torbanites there,
and though, perhaps, it is too much to expect that an export trade in
petroleum products could be built up, there is no doubt whatever that
the large requirements for petroleum products in the Dominion could
easily be met by the production from home sources.
The possibilities of developing a shale industry in Africa are not
particularly promising, though they are by no means out of the range
of probability. In the coal series in the Transvaal, beds of what are
known as “oil-shales” are encountered in several localities The seams
generally are thin, and in some cases unworkable, but the material is
very rich, and has proved capable of yielding high percentages of crude
oil.
In Sarawak (British North Borneo) the “Shell” Company is carrying out
most important and highly successful developments, which are bound to
have far-reaching and gratifying results in regard to developments
under the British Flag.
As I have shown, the problem of Imperial oil supply would be far on
its way to solution by the development of the various shales in the
British Empire, and the pity is that a more progressive policy has not
been adopted in regard thereto long before the subject became of such
pressing importance. Each of our Colonies--like the Mother Country--is
a large consumer of petroleum products, and each is also totally
dependent upon imported supplies, yet within the borders of each are to
be found large deposits of the necessary crude material.