The desire that the British Empire should be self-supporting in every possible way has been the predominating idea of our statesmen for many years: it is to be regretted, however, that such little progress has been recorded in the direction of the achievement of a practical result. This remark applies to many commodities, yet to none more so than to petroleum and its products. To-day, as much as at any preceding time, the Empire is dependent upon foreign sources of supply for the vast bulk of its petroleum products. It is true that in the United Kingdom there is a growing production of oil from the shale-fields of Scotland, but this total represents but a fraction of the large quantities of products which are annually required to meet the ever-increasing demands in commercial and domestic circles.

At the outbreak of the European War, it was forcibly brought home to us as a nation that we were in a position regarding our petroleum supplies of absolute dependence upon other countries. The refined products were an essential part of the war, for without them it would have been impossible to have continued for almost a single day, and yet, practically every gallon used had to be transported thousands of miles, and from a country which at that time was neutral. To make matters even worse, the Continental sources of supply from which we had been previously drawing large quantities of petroleum were closed to export, for, through the Dardanelles, the Roumanian and Russian export ports were effectively shut off from the outside world.

Fortunately for Great Britain, the United States came forward with the offer of all the petroleum products required for the successful prosecution of the war, and we owe to the United States alone all success which has been the natural result of possessing ample requirements of petroleum products both on sea and land.

The fact, nevertheless, stands out tragically prominent that we as a nation have not developed our own oil resources in a manner we ought to have done, although everyone conversant with the oil business has been for years advocating the giving of serious attention to this important subject. To-day, speculative drilling for petroleum is proceeding in England, and it is to be hoped that some success will be ultimately recorded, but, inasmuch as I dealt with the question of Petroleum in England in the previous chapter, I will at the moment pass over this very interesting phase of the problem, and briefly look at the subject from an Empire point of view. Under the British Flag, we already have, or control, some excellent oil-fields in Burmah, Persia, Egypt, Trinidad, and Assam, and each producing steadily increasing quantities of crude oil. The Burmah fields have achieved fame mainly owing to the very large profits made by the chief operating company—the Burmah Oil Company, Ltd., whose head offices are at Glasgow. These have of recent years been developed upon most up-to-date lines, and the producing limits of the territory greatly extended, until now the annual crude oil production is upwards of 1,000,000 tons. The fields of Persia are very prolific, and their control to-day is in the hands of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, Ltd., an influential concern largely controlled by the British Government, by reason of the investment of large sums of public moneys a few years ago. The development of the Persian fields is more or less in its initial stages, and though huge quantities of oil have already been produced therefrom, the limits of the presumably oil-bearing areas have by no means been defined. In order to facilitate the export of Persian oil, a pipe-line has been laid from the fields to Abadan, on the Persian Gulf, and a programme has already been laid down under which large quantities of Persian petroleum products will come upon the English markets.

The Egyptian oil-fields have lately witnessed developments upon an important scale, thanks to the enterprise of the Anglo-Egyptian Oil-fields, Ltd., a concern closely allied with the “Shell” Combination, and having as its Chairman, Sir Marcus Samuel, Bart. Commercial supplies of crude oil have been found at several points near the coast of the Gulf of Suez, and a large refinery has been built for the refining of the oil. Down to 1914, the only oil finds of importance had been at Gemsah, where a number of oil gushers were struck, but the field there proved to be one of most irregular formation, and none of the wells gave anything like a permanent yield. Fortunately, in that year a field was discovered at Hurgada, the formation of which was found to be singularly regular, and the yield of which has steadily increased until, at the time of writing, the production of crude oil in it is over 15,000 tons per month. That additional wells have not been sunk and the field further increased has been primarily due to the difficulties of obtaining the necessary plant under war conditions. Some very large wells have already been brought in, but, so far, the petroleum industry in Egypt is quite in its infancy. It is quite obvious, however, that in the next few years the production of petroleum in Egypt will be increasingly large, and the developments are bound to have a significant bearing upon the oil situation generally.

The same remarks equally apply to the Trinidad fields, where the anticipations of those associated with the pioneer oil operations have been more than fulfilled. Some prolific fields have been opened up, and the production to-day is such that an export trade of considerable magnitude can be maintained. Developments upon the Island were impeded by the total absence of roads in the oil districts, and much pioneer work had to be undertaken before it was possible to commence the serious exploitation of the fields themselves. The crude oil of Trinidad is of both the light and the heavy grades, the former showing remarkable percentages of motor spirit, while the latter is used not only as fuel oil but also for the treatment of roads so as to render them dustless. It is in Trinidad that there is the famous pitch lake, from which for many years large quantities of asphalt have been removed and exported for a variety of purposes. Trinidad asphalt, in fact, is well known all over the world. The potentialities of the Island are rapidly being appreciated, for its geographical position is such that would make it a practical base for the “oiling” of the great ocean-going vessels which are rapidly passing over from coal to fuel oil burning.

While on the subject of oil-fields which are under the British Flag, mention must be made of Canada, whose oil industry has been developed for many years. The principal producing fields are in Ontario, and the town of Petrolia is the centre of the petroleum interests. But the wells are not of the prolific class, and almost without exception show a very poor return for operating. Many of them are sunk only to the shallow strata, and their operation would certainly be profitless were not a system employed by which quite a number of small producing wells are pumped by central power. From time to time, Canada has experienced various oil booms, one of the most recent being that which occurred in Calgary, in 1914. A well showed a small production of high-grade oils, and immediately the country for miles round became the centre of an oil fever, which gradually died down when a number of unsuccessful developments took place. To-day, the output of the Canadian fields is steadily declining, and all efforts to stimulate the production have so far failed. Even a Government bounty of 1½ cents a gallon of oil produced has failed to encourage an increase in output, and it is evident that, unless new fields are opened out, the future offers little hope.

The total production of petroleum to-day by the oil-fields developed in the British Empire represents but about 2 per cent. of the world’s total petroleum output: it is therefore clear that, if we intend to secure our oil supplies in the future from territory under the British Flag, large supplementary sources of supply must be found. It is doubtful whether any additional liquid oil regions will be found to produce oil in commercial quantity, for, though several attempts have been made in various parts with this end in view, they have not achieved success, and numerous instances might be quoted where the employment of British capital in an endeavour to bring about this much desired result has met with failure.

The question then arises: Is it possible to augment considerably Empire-produced oils from other means of development? In this direction, the future is full of promise, for, though Nature has not given the Empire freely of liquid oil-producing fields, there are immense areas of oil-bearing shales at home and in our Dominions overseas which can, without great difficulty, be turned into most useful account. It is well known that great deposits of retortable material exist within the Empire’s bounds, and many of these deposits are exceedingly rich. At the moment, however, scarcely any have been exploited, and none adequately developed. From time to time, many samples of oil-bearing shales from various parts of the Empire have been sent to this country for analysis, and these have usually been put through Scottish retorts with varying results.

But the unsatisfactory analyses have not been due to the qualities of the shale or torbanite examined, but to the methods by which the distillations were carried out. The well-known consulting oil engineer—Mr. E. H. Cunningham-Craig—made a special point of this in a most interesting article which recently appeared in one of the Empire magazines, and he pointed out that the reasons for the unsatisfactory conclusions arrived at were very simple and obvious. The Scottish retorts are designed to deal effectually with highly inspissated and, as a rule, not very rich, oil-shales. The recovery of the maximum amount of sulphate of ammonia is a desideratum; a sufficient supply of incondensable gases to fire the retort must be produced; while the recovery of the lighter fractions (motor spirit) of the material treated was not an object of the first consideration. For these purposes, says Mr. Cunningham-Craig, large and high vertical retorts are used, the temperature of distillation is comparatively high, superheated steam is blown into the retorts, and a fairly complete extraction of volatile matter is achieved. But to apply such methods to a very rich and fresh torbanite—such as the richer shales of New South Wales—is absurd, involving many practical difficulties and not giving the most remunerative results.

Similarly, the rich oil-shales of New Brunswick (Canada), though more nearly allied to the Scottish shales, differ from them both chemically and physically to such an extent as to require different treatment. Let me now briefly refer to the deposits which are known in the Dominions and Colonies that give promise of yielding oil in commercial quantities by destructive distillation. I will first take the shales of Canada, for though, as I have pointed out, the Dominion’s production of liquid oil is steadily decreasing, there are numerous deposits of shales which only await careful exploitation and development in order to render Canada a petroleum-producing country of considerable magnitude. The oil-shales of New Brunswick have been known for many years, yet only a fraction of the area has been yet prospected. Experiments with the shales have shown that they are capable of producing nearly 50 gallons of crude oil the ton of shale treated, while ammonium sulphate has been produced at the remarkable proportion of 77 lb. a ton. Albert County is one of the best shale-fields, and it is here that a Government scheme has now been promulgated. The shales of Nova Scotia are likewise to be commercially developed, but so far no serious attempt has been proposed to deal with the enormous areas in Newfoundland, the Province of Quebec, and other already known regions of Canadian oil-shales.

Australia can boast of very large areas of shales: some deposits have been operated for several years, but others are still awaiting development. From a variety of causes, however, the shale-oil industry of Australia has never been set upon a profitable footing. The Commonwealth Oil Corporation some years ago set out to accomplish much, but the only thing which it seemed to do with energy was to sail to destruction. Its failure cannot be said to have been due to any absence of the material it set out to treat for petroleum, for at every turn enormous quantities were opened up. It would appear that the immensity of the possibilities which awaited its operations was one of the prime reasons for its premature decay, while there is no doubt that the system it employed was by no means the best for treating the shales. A more simple and less expensive method of retorting the shales would doubtless ensure successful working. In Queensland, Tasmania, and New Zealand the presence of these shales has been proved over extensive areas, and though for the most part they have so far been neglected, there is reason to hope that, in the not distant future, the advantage to be derived from their commercial exploitation will be the more widely appreciated. A most lucrative industry could be built up by the Commonwealth of Australia by the distillation of the torbanites there, and though, perhaps, it is too much to expect that an export trade in petroleum products could be built up, there is no doubt whatever that the large requirements for petroleum products in the Dominion could easily be met by the production from home sources.

The possibilities of developing a shale industry in Africa are not particularly promising, though they are by no means out of the range of probability. In the coal series in the Transvaal, beds of what are known as “oil-shales” are encountered in several localities The seams generally are thin, and in some cases unworkable, but the material is very rich, and has proved capable of yielding high percentages of crude oil.

In Sarawak (British North Borneo) the “Shell” Company is carrying out most important and highly successful developments, which are bound to have far-reaching and gratifying results in regard to developments under the British Flag.

As I have shown, the problem of Imperial oil supply would be far on its way to solution by the development of the various shales in the British Empire, and the pity is that a more progressive policy has not been adopted in regard thereto long before the subject became of such pressing importance. Each of our Colonies—like the Mother Country—is a large consumer of petroleum products, and each is also totally dependent upon imported supplies, yet within the borders of each are to be found large deposits of the necessary crude material.