History of the Petroleum Industry PDF

Hi stor yofThePet rol eum I ndust ry: Oilhasbeenusedf orli ght ingpurposesf ormanythousandsof years.In areaswher eoili sf...

Hi stor yofThePet rol eum I ndust ry: Oilhasbeenusedf orli ght ingpurposesf ormanythousandsof years.In areaswher eoili sf oundinshal l ow r eser voir s,seeps ofcr udeoilorgasmay natural lydevelop,andsomeoi lcoul d simpl ybecoll ect edfr om seepageort arponds. Hist ori call y,weknowthetal esofeter nalfi reswhereoi landgas seeps ignit ed and bur ned. Wri tten sour ces fr om 500 B.C. descr ibe howtheChi neseusednatur algastoboi lwater. Itwasnotunt i l1859t hat"Col onel "EdwinDrakedril ledthefir st successfuloilwell ,wi ththesolepurposeoff i ndingoil.The DrakeWel lwaslocatedi nthe mi ddl eofqui etfar m countryin nort hwest er n Pennsy lv ania,and sparked the inter nati onal searchforanindust ri al useforpet rol eum. Thesewellswereshall owbymoder nstandards, oftenl esst han 50met ers deep,buttheypr oducedlargequantit iesofoi l.In thi spictur eoft heTarrFarm,Oi lCreekValley,t hePhil li pswel l 1 ontherighti niti all ypr oduced4,000 barr elsperdayinOctober ,1861,andt heWoodf or dwel lont he l eftcamei n at1, 500barr elsperdayi nJul y,1862. Theoi lwascol l ected int hewooden t ankpi ctured int he foregr ound.Asy ou wi llno doubtnot ice,ther e are many different-sizedbarrelsint he backgr ound.Att hi st ime,bar rel sizehadnotbeenst andardized,whi chmade st atement slike "oilissel l ingat$5perbar rel "ver yconfusing( t odayabar relis 159 l iters.Butev en i nt hose day s,ov erproduct i on was somet hing t o be av oided.When t he "Empi r e wel l "was compl etedi n September1861,i tproduced3, 000bar relsper day ,fl oodi ngt hemar ket,and t hepriceofoi lplummet edt o10 cent sabar r el.I nsomeway s,weseet he sameef fectt oday. Whennew shal egasf i eldsi nt heUSar econst rai nedby t he capaci tyoft heexistingoi landgaspi peli nenet wor k,itresults i n bot tl enecksandl owpr icesatt hepr oductionsite. Soon,oi lhad r epl aced mostot herfuelsf ormot ori zed transport.The automobil eindustrydev elopedatt heendof th the19 cent ury,andquickly adopt edoi lasfuel.Gasol i ne engines wer e essenti alfordesigni ng successful aircr aft. Shipsdr ivenbyoi lcoul dmov eupt otwi ceasfastast hei r coalpower edcount er part s,av it almil itaryadvantage.Gas wasbur nedof forlef tintheground. Despiteattemptsatgast ranspor t ationasf arbackas1821, it wasnotunt i lafterWor ldWarI It hatweldi ngt echniques,pi pe rol li ng, and met all urgical adv ances al lowed f or the constructi onofr el iablelongdi stancepipelines,cr eati nga natural gas indust ry boom. At t he same t i me, the petrochemicalindustrywi thitsnew pl ast icmat eri alsquickl y i ncreasedpr oduct i on.Ev en now,gaspr oduct ioni sgaini ng mar ketshare as liquefi ed nat uralgas ( LNG) pr ovi des an economi calwayoft r anspor t inggasf rom event heremotest sit es. 2 Witht he appear ance ofaut omobi l es and mor e adv anced consumer s,i twas necessar ytoi mproveandst andardi zet he mar ketablepr oducts.Refining wasnecessar ytodi vi det he crude i n f racti ons t hat could be bl ended to pr ecise specifi cations.Asv al ueshi f ted fr om r efini ng t o upst ream product i on,i tbecameev enmor eessent i alforref ineriest o i ncr easehi gh-valuefuelyi el df r om av arietyofcrudes.Fr om 10-40% gasol i nef orcrudeacent ur yago,a moder nr efinery cangetupt o70% gasol inef r om t hesamequal itycr ude through a v ar iety of adv anced reforming and cr acki ng processes. Chemicalsderivedfrom petr oleum ornat uralgas– petr ochemi cal s–ar ean essentialpartofthechemical i ndustrytoday.Petrochemistr yi saf ai rlyyoungindustr y;i t onl ystartedtogr owi nt he1940s, moret han80y ear safter the dr il li ngoft hefi rstcommer cialoil wel l. Duri ng Worl d WarI I ,thedemand forsy nthet icmat er ial sto repl acecostl y andsometimeslesseff icientproduct scaused t hepet r ochemicali ndust ryto devel opi ntoamaj orplayeri n moderneconomyandsociety. Befor ethen, i twasat entati ve,exper imentalsector, star ti ng wit hbasicmat er ials: Sy ntheticr ubber sinthe1900s Bakel it e, t hef ir stpet r ochemi cal-der ived plastic,i n1907 Fi rstpet r ochemi calsolv ents i nt he1920s Pol ystyrenei nthe1930sAndi tthenmov edtoan i ncr ediblev ar i etyofar eas: Househol dgoods( kitchenappl i ances, textil es,furni ture) Medi ci ne( heart pacemaker s, t ransfusionbags) Leisur e( r unni ngshoes, comput ers... ) Highl yspeci ali zedf i eldslikearchaeologyandcrime 3  det ect ion Wi t hoi lpricesof$100abar r elormor e,evenmor edi f fi cult -t o- access sour ces hav e become economi call yv i able.Such sourcesi ncludetarsands i nVenezuel aandCanada,shal eoi l and gas i nt he US ( and dev eloping el sewhere),coalbed met haneandsy nthet icdi esel( syndiesel)from naturalgas,and biodieselandbi oethanolf rom bi ologicalsour ceshaveseena dramat i ci ncreaseov ert helastt eny ears.Thesesour cesmay eventuall y mor e than t riple t he pot enti al reserves of hydrocarbonf uel s.Bey ondt hat ,ther ear eev enmor eexot i c sources,suchasmet hanehy drates,t hatsome exper tsclai m candoubl eav ail ableresour cesoncemor e. Withi ncr easingconsumpt i onandev er- incr easingconv ent ional andunconv enti onalresources,t hechall engebecomesnotone ofav ail abil i t y ,butofsust ainabl euseoff ossi lfuelsinthef ace ofri si ngenv i ronmentalimpacts,thatr angef r om localpoll ution toglobal cl i mat eeffects. 4