Improvements were again due to the enterprise of Messrs. Nobel Brothers, who built the first cistern waggons for transporting oil on the railways, instead of using the old wooden barrels, which were far from satisfactory. In order, too, to open an outlet on the Black Sea, the same firm, in 1889, constructed a pipe-line from Mikhailovo to Kvirili, over the Suram mountains. Now, of course, we have the great pipe-line running from Baku to Batoum, a distance of nearly 560 miles, and which is responsible for the transport of the quantities of Russian oil exported.
But the Russian petroleum industry has always existed more or less under a cloud. The old regime of Government did not attempt to foster and encourage the industry from which it received so much yearly in royalties, for it must be recollected that the Russian State was the chief gainer by the exploitation of the Baku oil lands, owing to the prevalence of the system of royalties. It seemed to be content to leave the industry to its fate, so long as it received therefrom so substantial a sum in royalties, etc. Instances are on record where operating firms pay the Government 40 per cent., or even more, of their crude oil production as royalties—payment for the privilege of taking the oil from the ground. Such conditions have been relentlessly imposed, and it is not surprising to find that, operating under this burden of expense, numerous firms find it quite out of the question to earn profits for their shareholders. Several English enterprises come into this category, but the fault is not of their seeking; it is, however, to be regretted, for once an equitable system of payments is arranged, the Russian petroleum industry will expand in a healthy manner, and become a much greater source of revenue to the State than it is at present.
But, apart from the troubles which have to be faced by the Baku oil producers, and which we may call Governmental, the relation between the employers and workpeople is far from being friendly. To-day, of course, it is worse than it was under the old regime of the Tzar, and then it was bad enough. The oil-field workman in Russia is the incarnation of all that is unsatisfactory. He works when he thinks he will, he labours under grievances, many of which are purely imaginary, and then he ventilates his spite upon his masters. The pages of history tell of many a conflict between capital and labour in the Baku oil-fields, with the consequent burning of all that would take fire on the fields, and the damaging of the producing wells by the workpeople. Instances are placed on record where, in a single night, dozens of productive oil-wells, which have taken years to bring into production, have been irreparably damaged by these oil-field workers. Their life, admitted, is nothing to write books upon, and their environments are in some cases of the worst description, rendered no better by the natural aptitude of the people themselves. But their views upon labour are of the most Utopian imaginable. During recent years, there has been a sort of combination between these operatives, whose socialistic tendencies run high, and less than two years ago they collectively put before the managers of the oil-fields the conditions under which they would in future work. There were nearly 100 different claims detailed, and a few of these are worthy of mention, as showing the appreciation of fairness which is instilled in the mind of the Russian oil-field worker. In the first place, a 50 per cent. increase in wages was desired, this to be retrospective. Holidays had to be paid for by the masters, and when the worker went on strike he had to receive his full pay from the master until such strike was settled. Then the workmen had to be represented on the board of management of the companies, their houses had to be improved by the masters, free railway and tramway accommodation had to be provided, etc. Generally, the demands put forward were distinctly arbitrary, though in many cases very humorous.
Recent events in the conduct of affairs in Russia do not suggest that great improvements may be expected in the near future, either in regard to the attitude of the Government toward the Russian petroleum industry, or to the attitude of the workers to those responsible for oil-field operations. Even before the European War, the Russian petroleum industry was rather on the decline. The only hope that can be expressed at this juncture is that when Russia possesses a stable government, and the country enters upon a period of peaceful progress, the Mining Department will take care that Russia takes its proper position as one of the most important oil-producing countries in the world. But before this comes about, there will have to be a complete revision of the Government’s policy respecting oil royalties. The destruction, however, wrought in Baku towards the end of 1918 will take several years to make good.
ROUMANIA: A FEW OF THE HAND DUG WELLS IN BUSTENARI
Roumania.—During comparatively recent time, Roumania has come prominently forward as one of the large petroleum-producing countries of the world, and its yearly output of crude oil, according to latest returns, is about 11,000,000 barrels, or, say, 1,600,000 tons. The production of petroleum in the country, however, has been proceeding for centuries, for, in the seventeenth century, the peasants were in the habit of digging wells by hand and selling the crude oil for medicinal purposes, the greasing of cart-wheels, as well as for lighting. There are many places in Roumania which are named from petroleum, a fact which points to the existence of the industry long before the present-day methods of extraction were thought of. Several hundreds of these hand-dug wells still exist round the fringe of the Transylvanian and Carpathian Alps, and though many of them have now fallen into decay, there are numerous others from which a payable quantity of petroleum is extracted by primitive methods.
The hand-dug wells in Roumania are highly interesting relics of a period which is now relegated to the past, though so long as the Roumanian petroleum industry exists, so long will the old hand-dug wells be associated with it. These wells are about 5 feet in diameter, and are sunk through alternate layers of clay, schisty clay, sandy clay, sandstone, and petroliferous sand to the more shallow oil horizons. They are dug by workmen who descend dressed with the minimum of clothing, usually saturated with oil, and wearing a tin hat to protect the head from falling stones, etc. The sides of the wells are lined with impermeable clay, which is protected by wicker-work. The man is lowered by a rope, air being supplied to him by means of bellows. At some places the rotary fan was employed more recently, but somehow it frequently happened that it was operated in the wrong direction, and the unfortunate digger was asphyxiated. These old wells have a depth of about 450 feet, and though their yield of oil is not considerable, it has for many years been a paying proposition to those engaged in this primitive method of petroleum production. The excavated earth, when digging these wells, was brought to the surface in buckets, lowered and raised by means of either manual labour or horse traction. When the first oil source was reached and the extraction of the crude oil commenced, this was accomplished by means of the use of wooden buckets or leather skins, one being lowered empty while the other was raised full. By this means it was possible to raise as much as 20 tons of the oil per day—quite a considerable amount, considering the primitive means adopted.
Mechanical developments throughout the Roumanian oil-fields on a more or less serious scale began about 1898, as the result of the introduction of foreign capital, and, from that time to the present, the history of the Roumanian petroleum industry has been one steady period of continued expansion. Various systems of drilling have been introduced into the work of developing old fields or opening up new centres, but in regard to these I shall deal at length in another chapter. The advent of the rotary method of drilling, however, opened up a new era for expansion in 1912, and since that time Roumania has made more marked progress than at any time previously.
The Roumanian oil-fields, as at present defined, cover a region roughly 20 miles in width, and extend to a length of between 300 and 400 miles, with, of course, numerous breaks. Of the numerous petroliferous regions in Roumania, those of Campina-Bustenari, Gura-Ocnitza, Moreni, and Baicoi-Tzintea among them provide about 95 per cent. of the total production, and, with the one exception of the Moreni field, all have been previously exploited by hand-dug wells.