OIL - THE INVISIBLE TRAVELER

foreign [Music] [Applause] [Applause] hahaha [Music] from the great Windswept Plains of the Mid-Continent desolate swamp lands hidden deep in the far south from Barren mountains and Rain star of deserts in the West from lands where Oil was first discovered in the east and from Land long since buried under rolling Seas from half a million oil wells dudding the length and breadth of the United States flows an unseen River of petroleum moving endlessly moving from oil wells to refineries moving from refineries to markets [Music] officially enough one seldom sees oil in transit on the high seas tankers conceal enormous volumes of oil and steel compartments Overland oil hides and tank cars often rolling in Express train speeds underground it tunnels through a network of pipelines and pumping stations the nation's Rivers cloak its traffic and ponderous barges and it rides to Market within the protective Hull of a big tank truck [Music] whatever is one place where you'll catch a glimpse of petroleum [Applause] but by then it has ceased to be petroleum and Transit it has become Transportation itself foreign [Applause] [Music] moving oil is more than just a moving job it's one of the nation's biggest moving jobs every day 24 hours a day day in and day out 300 million gallons of crude petroleum and products are transported from Wells to refineries and from refineries to markets and that means moving more than 700 gallons of petroleum every year for every person in the United States the reason for this Mammoth moving job is simply this oil is where you find it but it isn't always where you need it some of our largest oil discoveries have been made in the Mid-Continent and Southwest where more than one half of our oil is presently produced together with the famous California Fields these two regions Supply most to the nation's petroleum requirements foreign but the greatest consumption of oil products is in the more highly settled and industrialized areas of the middle west the East and the Pacific coast transfer the utility of oil to these areas transportation is necessary [Music] transportation is not only a big job it's a specialized job because oil is a fluid [Music] unlike coal oil can't be shoveled heaped or stored Loosely on the ground nor can it be handled in solid pieces and stacked in the open-like lumber oil is a fluid always trying to escape in some way it must be contained at all times thus the story of petroleum Transportation begins with the barrel the barrel was the only practical container available to early oil men for shipping petroleum to Eastern markets by Railroad foreign [Music] however the nearest line was some 20 miles away from the oil producing region there were two ways of moving the loaded oil barrels to the railroad in flat boats when the water was high enough a hazardous method at best or by horse and wagon over primitive Farm trails that became a nightmare to drivers and horses alike from this background grew one of the world's most unusual systems of commodity transport as oil production mounted barrels couldn't be made fast enough to keep Pace with the demand it became necessary therefore to devise means of shipping oil in bulk starting with the barrel is a common ancestor specialized carriers were created some early shippers instead of loading oil barrels on flat boats tried running oil directly into the boats that proved impractical since the large volumes of liquid were easily set in motion making it extremely difficult to keep the boat in balance [Music] then someone had an idea why not build a flat boat itself in the form of a group of barrels a barge consisting of compartments into which oil could be loaded and pumped out at the end of The Journey that practice kept the boat in Balance solved the problem of bulk shipments by water when ocean-going oil tankers were developed years later the same basic principle of compartmentation was employed in their design [Music] loading railroad cars with heavy oil barrels was a tedious and costly operation so Pioneer oilmen look for ways to improve the rail transportation of petroleum the barrel greatly enlarged became a pair of wooden tubs or tanks on Wheels and later the wooden tubs evolved into a single steel tank the modern tank car beginning again with the barrel and stretching it until it reached from the Oil Well to the refinery it became a continuous container a pipeline with the development of the automobile engine the barrel became a tank truck powered and lubricated by the very Freight it carried this new machine could go wherever there was a road completing the delivery of petroleum from oil well to Market thus we've seen that oil because of its liquid Nature Made it necessary for the petroleum industry to develop its own specialized methods of transportation and that of all these carriers the tanker the barge the pipeline the tank car and the tank truck are basically containers over the years petroleum Transportation has grown into a vast network of movement with ocean roots waterways Pipelines railways and highways all woven into an immense pattern reaching every part of the United States today the movement of oil from Wells to refineries and refineries to markets is practically continuous it's as if your local service station were connected to an oil well hundreds maybe thousands of miles away maintaining this continuous flow of oil is an exacting job it requires careful planning close coordination always to get enough of the right product to the right place at the right time foreign moves from Wells to refineries from refineries to markets generally by a combination of Transport methods the most efficient combination depends on the relationship between the source of the oil and the place where it's needed for instance oil bound from Texas to New York state may travel by pipeline or by barge to refineries on the Gulf Coast from there the finished products are shipped by tanker around the Florida Peninsula up the east coast to Marine terminals at large Metropolitan centers foreign [Music] the products travel by barge by Tank car by pipeline to bulk depots from there final distribution is made by Tank truck [Music] oh it may seem a roundabout way of bringing oil products from Texas to New York it's actually the most economical for what it costs to send an ordinary one ounce letter from Houston to New York the petroleum industry ships by tanker between the same two cities about 350 ounces of its products more than three gallons of liquid and that's possible because petroleum Transportation follows the principle of carrying maximum volumes as far as possible in the largest economical containers and that results in efficiency and in economy Overland pipelines of the heavy duty carriers of oil almost every drop that comes from the ground moves at least part of its journey by pipeline beginning in the producing Fields crude oil is collected from the wells by a complex system of gathering lines through these lines the oil is run into field tanks where during temporary storage it is measured and gauged from the fuel tanks the oil moves to a pipeline pumping station where it begins its Journey underground often traveling a thousand miles or more to reach its destination powerful Diesel or electric driven pumps Force the oil through the lines from Pump Station to Pump Station these are located at the proper intervals to keep the oil flowing at a constant speed these pumping stations are about the only visible evidence of the fact that tremendous streams of petroleum are continually moving Underground occasionally one may glimpse of pipeline above ground where it spans a river or Bridges a canyon or a ravine but most of America's more than 150 000 miles of petroleum arteries are hidden beneath the surface endlessly transporting crude oil to refineries to be converted into useful products and bringing refined products sufficiently and unnoticed to scores of communities if welded into one continuous pipe this great pipeline system would encircle the world six times [Music] from this Marine Terminal part of the shipments arriving by tanker are reship to Inland distribution points by product pipeline [Music] the remarkable feature of product pipelines is the fact that as many as 22 different products can be pumped through the line one right after another the movement and distribution of the various products in the line are supervised in a central dispatching office which operates on a round-the-clock basis here are carefully maintained paper tape records the exact location and quantity of each product as it moves through the line skilled Personnel guide the complicated operations by means of an automatic remote control system code numbers are dialed on a telephone dial pump start and stop and valves open and close at pumping stations hundreds of miles away [Music] while enormous quantities of crude oil and products are moving underground heavily Laden ocean tankers are carrying on their coastwise movements of petroleum tanker is the largest single unit in the scheme of petroleum transportation a vessel like this one has a capacity of more than 5 million gallons of liquid products and there are larger ships that can handle almost double bed volume usually tankers of this type can be fully loaded in about 12 hours this tanker takes on a multiple cargo gasoline kerosene and fuel oil these products are pumped in from the refinery storage tanks nearby onshore [Music] the tanks are connected to the dock by a system of loading lines [Music] hoses connect these to the ship's pipelines which lead to the various tanks [Music] the ocean tanker with its enormous carrying capacity is one of the most economical methods of transporting oil shipment of petroleum products by water makes up more than one quarter of all the United States waterborne Freight tonnage a good share of this immense floating burden of petroleum moves by barge over our inland waterways barges are of many different sizes and types some are self-propelled but most of them are moved by tugs or other power vessels several barges may be grouped together to make up a toe sometimes carrying in one shipment of volume of products nearly equivalent to that of an ocean tanker barge movements are ponderous and undramatic but they are a vital part of the overall plan to ensure adequate supplies of petroleum whenever and wherever needed here at this inland marine terminal barges discharge their heavy car goes into storage tanks for further shipment by Tank car and by truck storage facilities while they don't move serve important functions in the transportation scheme in many areas adequate Reserve suppliers must be built up during the milder Seasons to fill the increased needs for heating fuels and other products when rivers are frozen and winter grips the land foreign [Music] storage tanks are necessary to provide flexibility at all points where shipments are transferred from one type of carrier to another for instance at this Inland bug terminal products arriving by pipeline are received in the terminal storage tanks from the storage tanks the products move out for reshipment by Railway and Highway tank cars are loaded at special racks designed for loading a number of cars at one time here trained and experienced hands carefully guide the loading operations tank cars are used mainly in the longer Overland Halls to supplement Pipeline and water weight transport the tank car is especially useful in the delivery of large bulk shipments to Industrial uses of fuel oils of solvents and other special products last but by no means least in the pattern of petroleum transport is The Versatile truck here at this bulk Depot one of thousands scattered throughout the Country tank trucks are being loaded to carry out the final distribution of products to service stations to homes to farms and to Industrial users the petroleum industry uses many types and sizes of trucks perhaps the most familiar to us are the trucks which deliver gasoline to our service stations or fuel oil to our homes are the types are specially designed for handling asphalt and Road oil for the transportation of liquefied petroleum gases under pressure or for the rapid refueling of aircraft the tank Chuck is the most flexible of all the petroleum carriers pipelines waterways and Railways are of necessity limited to certain fixed routes but the tank truck can go wherever there's a road the tank truck then is the final Link in the Big Chain of transportation that links distribution points and huge refineries and ultimately the distant oil fields as well with your fuel tank all these complex operations must be coordinated and balanced to serve the needs of everyone efficiently even to the most remote of isolated communities thus by pipeline by ocean tanker by river barge by railroad tank car and by Highway tank truck the power of petroleum moves from oil wells to markets everywhere oil Powers more than 50 million Motor Vehicles oil brings prosperity to Farms that once were too far from the town or a railroad oil allows Industries to spread their operations into many smaller plants removed from Metropolitan centers oil brings the products of our Industries to Farmer and City dweller alike and in the Thousand and One ways the energy of oil makes possible our great flexible system of Transportation [Music] um it is this channeling of petroleum into all the nooks and crannies of the land that is made possible in entirely new way of living for it is placed at man's disposal portable power a means of transporting himself and his possessions with speed with economy with flexibility [Music] because of this a continent has been changed into a neighborhood bringing to you and to me the greatest freedom of movement enjoyed by any people in all history yes the transportation of oil has made possible the transportation of America foreign