The Romance of Petrol

Cromwell Argus, Volume LXVIII, Issue 3483, 23 August 1937, Page 2

The Romance of Petrol

As you travel by any form of motor transport, do you ever think of the romance of the fuel, petrol, which provides the power? Among natural products, petroleum, the crude oil from which motor spirit is taken, occurs in nearly every continent in the world, and new fields are being tapped every day to meet the tremendous and growing demand for its products. A popular fallacy regarding crude oil is that it is found in large underground ponds or pools. This is quite an error, as the oil is always contained in a porous stratum in the earth. This stratum consists of sand or limestone, and contains the oil as a sponge holds water. Naturally the oil-bearing stratum must lie between two strata of impervious material, such as clay or rock, otherwise all the oil would have leaked aw r ay and been lost ages ago.

Some authorities hold that the oil is of organic origin—that it has been produced by the decay of vegetable matter, in the same manner that coal has been formed by the decay of prehistoric forests, but under slightly different conditions. Others say that the formation is Inorganic—that it has been formed by interaction of minerals. v”

There are two principal methods of drilling wells in operation to-day. First, the percussive system. A heavy drilling tool is hung on the end of a wire cable and alternately raised and dropped on to the earth or rock, thus pounding .it into fragments. These fragments are at short intervals baled ont of the hole in the form of mud. In the second system, a rotary drill is used, and the fragments of earth are continuously washed to the surface by keeping water circulating down the drill rods and up the sides of the well. When the oil-bearing stratum is reached, sometimes the oil flows to the top of the well under a violent pressure. The well is then known as a “gusher,” and if the pressure is very great the most stringent precautions have to be taken to keep the oil within bounds. At other times the oil does not reach the surface, and then, in order to produce, the well has to be continuously pumped.

After the oil is obtained from the well it has to be taken to the refinery, in order that it may be divided into its various components and made suitable for commercial purposes. This transport is usually effected by pipe lines, which in some cases are of enormous length. The famous line between Baku and Batoum, in the Russian fields, is almost 560 miles in length. After arrival at the refinery, the crude oil is distilled; that is, it is heated in large vessels, and the vapor which boils off is condensed. Among the first vapors evolved is the petrol known as “aviation spirit.” After the benzine, or motor spirit, come the kerosenes, usually known as “paraffin oil.”