HOME PRODUCTION OF OIL.
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Interesting Statements Concerning the Government's Attitude Towards the Subject.
AGREAT deal of criticism has been directed of late to the alleged neglect of the Government to utilize to the full the home sources of oil production. THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR has obtained certain information which it is able to put before its readers.
Factors which in themselves may have been recommendations in 1932-1914 for the extensive adoption of low-temperature distillation largely disappeared as the war progressed, and any considerable plants for the treatment of 'bituminous coal or cannel in this manner must have been brought to a standstill at the present time had the material and labour been sanctioned for them. The Petroleum Research Committee, it is true, reported in favour of extensive lowtemperature developments, and this report was available in the summer of 1917. It is held that any action as a result of this report must have involved demands upon the mining industry which were demonstrably incapable of being met with within a year of the appearance of the report. Not only is insufficient coal now available for the minimum and restricted requirements of the nation, but, so far as cannel goes, it must have been a grave misuse and waste of labour to attempt to mine it in regular quantities. Seams of cannel are said to be small and irregular, and work upon them only pays the expenditure of labour involved when labour is cheap and plentiful. .There is no labour in the mines which can in the national interest be diverted from the mining of coal to that of cannel. The quantity of cannel on the surface is said to• be relatively negligible.
Importation in Double Bottoms of Liners.
The alternative to low-temperature distillation' in the summer and fall of 1917, was found in the adoption of the method, now publicly known, of bringing petroleum products into the country, lind more particularly fuel oil for the Navy, in the double bottoms of ocean liners and cargo boats. Hundreds of thousands of tons were brought into the country in this manner during the winter of 1917-1918, and the critical situation which threatened thereby reversed, and ample stocks accumulated without any further call upon man power or material. The view is held that this course was much better than the suggested adoption of low-temperature distillation, with all its uncertainties for the future, to say nothing of the smaller yields of gas, ammonia and other by-products.
Assertions have been made concerning the prospects of high yields of oil and other petroleum products from the exploitation of shale deposits in various parts of England, and more particularly in the counties of Norfolk and Dorset. It has been sought to establish comparisons with the established shale-oil industry of Scotland, but it is apparently forgotten that this Scottish industry has taken many years to reach its present stage of productiveness. The several Scottish companies have been able to develop their production gradually, during years when labour was obtainable at normal rates and materials without difficulty. The statement is now made that, in a home production of fuel-oil which at the moment approximates 12,500,000 gallons a month, the whole• of the Scottish shale oil industry is only responsible for about 1,250,000 gallons, and it is asked how, then, can it be honestly .claimed that new developments of shale deposits in England can be of considerable importance, when the other home developments, which have not involved demands for new material and labour, have effected a production of nine times the fuel-oil that comes from the old
Scottish industry ? These new developments concern modifications at gasworks and tar distilleries. The existing vertical retorts at gasworks can deal with more cannel coal than the country is able to produce. It is also pointed out that British shales contain so high a percentage of sulphur as to render the satisfactory applications of the oils which are derived from them impossible, in the absence of further expenditure upon plant, to eliminate this undesirable element.
Statements have been made in the House of Commons that the oil produced by the gasworks is of poor quality and must be " drowned " with imported petroleum to enable it to be burned. This, it is contended, is not the case, for the oil obtained at Radford is an excellent fuel-oil, which can be mixed with petroleum in any proportion after the elimination of small quantities of impurities by a very simple process; no complicated refinery plant is required.
It may be asked why more has not been done to increase the output of the Scotch shale mines, the production of which is practically the same as before the war. The answer to this lies in the fact that a very great deal has been done, but early in the war many of the employees of the Scotch companies enlisted, with the result that the output diminished considerably.
It is only by the strenuous efforts of the Petroleum Administration that the position has been retrieved ; men have been returned from the Colours ; plant has been provided ; and the output of the mines pressed to the uttermost. The quality of the shale has, however, been deterioraIing for some years, i.e., the yield of oil per ton, so that with an increased throughput of the retorts, the production of oil has remained practically stationary.
Boring in England to Commence.
The remaining contention of the various parties who have set out to attack the Government policy is that little or nothing has been done to encourage boring in England for petroleum. We are informed that statements to that effect can be wholly disproved by inquiry. It is understood that Lord Cowdray originally refused to proceed without legislation, and some months were admittedly lost while an effort was made to steer a non-contentious Bill through the House of Commons. This was nearly a year ago, but the House concentrated upon the royalty clauses, and it has been erroneously but generally believed that thereafter the Government might have moved more quickly than it did. It is now contended that there are good reasons for stating that Lord Cowdray's plans for securing plant and personnel were not hindered by this postponement of legislation : he has been collecting plant from all parts of the world, and the arrangements for boring in the Midlands are now as far advanced as is physically possible. The shortage of materials, more particularly of steel, has, of course, not been without its effect upon Lord Cowdray's programme, but such delay as there has been is more attributable to shipping difficulties, much of the material having to come from overseas.
It is stated that fuel-oil and other petroleum products of essential importance are now enormously better than they were, a year ago. Had the fundamental error been made of relying upon prospe3tive and theoretic yields from new low-temperature plants, using bituminous coal or cannel, the only result today must have been national disaster. The yield to date must have been negligible, and the plants would now be at a standstill for want of raw materials.