Chapter 696 Oil Well
On the shore of the vast Lake Turkana, a steam drilling rig is emitting billowing black smoke. Boiler workers are continuously filling coal into the furnace room. Driven by the turbine, the heavy metal drill keeps working, up and down, piercing the rock. Workers use tools to clean the rock debris brought out onto a wheelbarrow, push it away and then pile it aside. This is an oil exploration site in East Africa.
"Mr. Carls, can we really find oil here? This is the sixth well we have dug this year. I feel like we are wasting our efforts. This situation is like looking for a needle in a haystack." asked Sol, an oil worker.
Saul's team is a team of professional oil workers who returned from the oil producing areas of the Austro-Hungarian Empire after studying there. Three years ago, they returned to help find oil in East Africa under the order of the kingdom.
The team's steam drilling machine was commissioned by East Africa to a German machinery company, then shipped to Mombasa by sea, and finally transported to Turkana Province by rail and road.
"According to my judgment, evidence of the possible existence of oil has indeed been found around Lake Turkana, such as some ancient fossils and relics. However, we currently have no relevant theoretical support, so if we want to dig out oil here, we can only do so through continuous attempts," said Carls.
"Does this mean that you don't even know whether there is oil in Turkana Province?" asked Thor.
"Ahem, that's true." Carls said somewhat awkwardly, "But oil is a very scarce resource. Currently, the world's oil producing areas are basically distributed in the United States and Eastern Europe, so it's normal that we can't find oil."
Thor frowned and asked, "East Africa is not a small country. It's impossible that we can't find a single drop of oil in such a large territory!"
"Mr. Saul, it's too early to draw conclusions. In fact, oil exploration depends on luck. This is how the US oil industry developed. After all, they lack relevant theoretical foundations and rely more on guesswork based on fossils and geology. Moreover, the area we are exploring now is not even one-third of Lake Turkana, let alone the entire Turkana Province, or even the entire kingdom."
"This is a gamble!" Thor originally thought that as a geologist expert, Carls had some real skills, but in the end he had to rely on this method, which was really a pity.
After all, Thor can do it by himself just by drilling, while Carls seems useless and everyone has to listen to his command.
Carls defended, "That's not true. We can't pinpoint the location of oil through theory because this is brand new knowledge for us humans. A few decades ago we didn't even have the so-called oil industry. Humans have only a short history of large-scale application of oil in the industrial field. If we can succeed, we can accumulate experience for the development of future oil exploration technology."
He then used the United States, which currently has the most developed oil industry, as an example.
"In 1859, Edwin Laurentini Drake, a train driver from Pennsylvania, drilled the first oil well in the United States. The well was located in Tuswell, Pennsylvania, with a depth of more than 21 meters. This oil well marked the beginning of the American oil industry."
"Rockefeller himself started his career by building oil refineries. Today, he monopolizes more than 80 percent of the U.S. oil refining capacity, more than 90 percent of oil transportation, and 20 percent of crude oil extraction."
"If it weren't for the layout of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Romania's oil industry, Europe would probably have become Rockefeller's market. The United States alone produces about 70% of the world's oil, so it is not an easy task for us to find oil in the interior of East Africa."
"In fact, even with the oil from Austria-Hungary and Romania, international oil prices are still controlled by the Americans. The good news is that oil production is far greater than demand, so oil prices are acceptable. This is also a factor in East Africa's oil imports. However, the Kingdom's emphasis on oil is obviously greater than any other country. I think this is related to East Africa's automobile industry."
As for whether East Africa is betting its national destiny on the oil and automobile industries, it is not something that a small figure like Kars can know.
Although oil and cars have already appeared, the main use of oil at present is still as a means of lighting such as "kerosene lamps". After all, the popularization of electricity is a rather long process.
Cars are toys of the "powerful and wealthy", and even the cheapest bicycles are industrial products that only the middle class can afford. Therefore, without decades of development, the future of these new industries is not clear for most countries. Only East Africa is making every effort to promote the development of related industries.
"Mr. Saul has also worked in the oil fields of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He should know that the current discovery of oil is accidental. For example, the Americans used the simplest and crudest methods to discover oil. So we can only use the most primitive means to complete the kingdom's early oil exploration work. Regardless of success or failure, this is valuable experience."
Currently, the oil exploration technology in the United States actually has no technical content. In fact, one of the most common methods is for a western cowboy to ride a horse and "drill" in a place where the wind blows his hat off to find oil.
This method is even more "metaphysical" than the one in East Africa, but some Americans have become rich overnight by using this method.
Of course, this is also related to the westward movement in the United States. After the first oil well was discovered, many "crazy people" bought land in the West, and then used cowboy hats to bet that there was oil on their land. This is the real "gambling."
In a case like East Africa, Ernst had long known that there was an oil "wall" in Turkana Province, which was incomprehensible. Ernst knew that in his previous life, the area where Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia met had such potential.
"Only when we actually drill an oil well can we turn experience into theory, and then use theory to find more oil. So, Mr. Saul, the business we are doing now can definitely advance the progress of human history. Even if we don't find oil in the end, we can make discoveries and innovations in the field of geology!" said Carls.
"Don't say such discouraging words. What if..." Thor didn't finish his words.
"Oil is out, Captain Thor!"
Thor's mouth sounded like it was blessed, and Carls was a little surprised. He was slapped in the face just after he said that oil might not be discovered. This feeling was indeed complicated, but more exciting.
Amid the huge noise of the steam engine, there was a cheer. After three years of "hard" struggle, the first oil well in East Africa was finally born.
The rolling underground "black gold" gushed out from the wellhead. If it were in the free world, it would probably create a "wealth legend", but in East Africa where nationalization is the mainstream, this is the wealth of all East African citizens.
"Don't get close yet to avoid the release of harmful gases from the oil wells. Corral this place..." Sol began to direct the oil workers on site based on his experience working in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
After working in East Africa for three years, I was finally able to put my expertise to use. Although I had done a lot of drilling work before, most of them were dry wells, but this time it was a real oil well.
(End of this chapter)
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