Petroleum

by Albert Lidgett

It will be seen, therefore, that the subject really divides itself under two heads, and it is with the first of these—that of the possibilities of finding liquid oil reserves in commercial quantity in this country—that I will now proceed to deal. For this purpose, it is better that we divide the country into three zones—western, middle, and eastern. The western zone will include the whole of England between the third meridian of West Longitude and the Irish Sea, the Bristol Channel, and the North Atlantic. It will be bounded on the north by a line running near Whitehaven to the mouth of the River Tees, and having the English Channel as its southern boundary. In this zone, the most northern occurrence of petroleum is found at Whitehaven, Cumberland, and the next is found on the Lancashire coast. Other indications are to be found in Denbighshire and in the northern part of the South Wales coalfield.

The occurrences of petroleum in what may be described as the middle zone are far more important and numerous than those of the western zone. They are important in the physical conditions to which they are subordinate, and in their greater productiveness. They are more numerous, and their geological position is more in direct relationship with later dynamical alterations in the rock structures. In this zone occurs the most important occurrence which has so far been recorded—I refer to that at Alfreton, in Derbyshire—for it was from this natural flow of petroleum over 70 years ago that Dr. Young, the founder of the Scottish shale oil industry, manufactured paraffin wax. Near Chesterfield is also unmistakable evidence of the presence of liquid oil at depth, for considerable quantities have flowed from the workings at the Southgate Colliery. In this middle zone, too, are the occurrences of petroleum found near Wigan and West Leigh, while flows of oil are recorded from several spots round Barnsley and Ilkeston. The petroleum find at Kelham, near Newark, some few years ago, is important for the reason that the drill in this case, at a depth of somewhere about 2,400 feet, struck true petroliferous sands, underlain by dark, waxy shales. The oil rock has been proved to consist of loose, coarsely grained sand, having all the features of strata in which petroleum is ordinarily met with. The great value of this boring is that it has demonstrated the fact, so long doubted by many of the best geological authorities in Great Britain, that all the geological conditions, dynamical as well as historical, are present in this locality for the formation and subsequent retention of liquid petroleum, and that, as Dr. William Forbes-Leslie puts it, despite all contention to the contrary, a true oil-field exists in England.

So far as I am aware, however, North Staffordshire alone, among all the places in England, has the distinction of so far having produced liquid petroleum in sufficient quantity for refining purposes. It was in 1874 that oil was discovered in a seam of coal in one of the pits of the Mear Hay Collieries, Longton, and a contract was ultimately made with a Mr. William Walker, Senr., of Hanley, who erected plant at Cobridge for the purpose of refining the oil. I am indebted to Mr. Walker for the following facts, though in a general way I have full corroboration for them, for it was within a couple of miles from the collieries that I was born and spent my earlier days. The seam of coal wherein the oil was discovered was one of the deeper seams, and by no means one of the best in the district. At that time, the flow produced more than 5 tons of crude oil per week, and inasmuch as England then was not inundated with American petroleums, great possibilities were seen in the discovery. But almost before the refining of the crude had settled down to be a commercial undertaking, the plans of operation were upset, for a serious explosion occurred at the colliery, which rendered necessary the closing of the pit. Twelve months later, however, they were re-opened, and after the re-sinking had proceeded awhile, the oil was found far up the shaft, and in due course the shaft was cleared and the mines re-opened. Refining operations were resumed and continued for a year or two, when the pits had to be closed on account of the shafts shrinking.

However, in the course of a number of years, petroleum appeared in another colliery less than a mile from the Mear Hay Colliery, and again Mr. Walker secured the contract for the whole of the output. The quantity of crude oil found was several tons weekly, and a large stock had accumulated when Mr. Walker’s attention was drawn to this new find. This time, the supply continued for a longer period, and then again the seam of coal in which the deposit occurred had to be abandoned. Thus, while the resources of this part of the Charnian axis have not been properly tested—for, in the opinion of the colliery owners, it is not possible profitably to work coal and oil at the same time—there is ample evidence to suggest that, in the not distant future, there may be most interesting oil developments in this part of North Staffordshire.

The eastern zone of the country doubtless furnishes the most interesting petroleum occurrences in England. Here, the interest does not so much depend upon the number of escapes, as upon the promising geological conditions subserving the production and possible retention of petroleum. According to the investigations of Dr. W. Forbes-Leslie, F.R.G.S., whose valuable contribution on the subject of the occurrence of petroleum in England forms one of the most important papers ever read before the Institution of Petroleum Technologists, the northern line of oil occurrences runs from Filey, north-westerly, the principal finds being located at Filey, Pickering, and Kirby Moorside. Oil, too, has been found at Brigg, in Lincolnshire, at Market-Rasen, Haugmont, and Donnington-on-Bain. The line of oil occurrences starts at King’s Lynn, on the Wash, and runs south-westwards as far as Cottenham, in Cambridgeshire, the principal occurrences being at King’s Lynn, Downham, Littleport, and Ely. The information obtained by the bore-hole at Kelham, to which I have already referred, is a factor of great value when taken into consideration and applied to an analytical review of the petroleum seepages in England. It is a positive proof that a true oil-bearing stratum underlies the surface rocks, at any rate, in one part of the British Isles, and, when it is considered in relation with the surface position of the oil escapes on the eastern flank of the Pennine Chain, it suggests a possible connection between those underground sources of oil and those surface escapes which are scattered, seemingly at such random, along the Pennines.

The attempts which were made but a few years ago to develop the possibilities of the Heathfield district of Sussex, with a view to obtaining commercial quantities of natural gas, were also prompted with the idea of maybe striking deposits of liquid petroleum, though it is doubtful, both from a geological point of view, and from the nature of the natural gas which is there in abundance, whether liquid oil will be met with in that part of the country. What has been established, however, is the fact that large quantities of natural gas are to be found in this delightful part of rural Sussex, and it is a great pity that the necessary enterprise has not been forthcoming to permit of a really serious development. Some years ago, I motored an American oil-man over the gas-fields of Heathfield, and he assured me that, if such evidences were found in the States, there would immediately be a great boom, and finance would freely flow in to stimulate development. But not so with Heathfield, for the opinion is freely held that this field is too near our midst for real speculative enterprise. Remove it to the wilds of Russia, and British finance would appreciate the immense potentialities which to-day lie dormant. For those readers who are, perhaps, not conversant with the history of the Heathfield gas developments it is well to record the fact that attention to these deposits was drawn years ago, when a well was being drilled for water on the property of the Brighton and South Coast Railway, near the present station. Strong smells of gas prevented working for some time, and as these increased it was decided that the better course would be to suspend drilling operations. The tubes of the well were partially drawn out, and the well sides caved in, yet the gas pressure increased. The well was abandoned as a water well, but pipes were attached to the cap at the mouth, and a steady pressure of gas was emitted. It was decided that, inasmuch as the gas burned with a pure flame, the station should be lighted with it. That was over twenty years ago, and to-day the well is still producing, and the station is still lighted with the natural gas, which needs no refining. Not only so, but a well-appointed hotel close by utilizes the gas for lighting and cooking.

A project was set on foot for sinking further wells and piping the gas to the southern coast resorts for general use, but lack of capital prevented progress being made, and so, to-day, Heathfield, like many other centres in the country, awaits the attention of the carefully-directed drill to open up its underground wealth.

In August, 1917, the feeling in many parts of the country that the Government should take some action in order to develop these latent resources became so strong that a Bill was introduced into Parliament with this object in view. No attempt was made to progress with it until the following October, when a financial resolution was rejected by the House of Commons on the question of royalties. An amendment was adopted against the payment of royalties to the owners of surface lands who had made no attempt to obtain liquid oil, and who, as a matter of fact, did not know that it was there. Two months later the Petroleum (Production) Bill was dropped.

In March, 1918, however, a most encouraging turn of events occurred, for Lord Cowdray, head of the great firm of Messrs. S. Pearson & Son, and associated with those influential interests in oil represented by the Mexican Eagle Oil Company, the Eagle Oil Transport Company, and the Anglo-Mexican Petroleum Company, made offers to the Government which were couched in the following terms—

(a) For the period of the war to place at the disposal of the Government, free of all cost, the services of his firm and geological staff for the purpose of exploration and development.