Petroblog: November 2010

The burning geyser of oil

The ferocious fire at well 160 Romano-Americana(1929-1931) .

Moreni,Valea Frasinului(Ash Valley) .

Oil industry in Romania after the WW2

Company oilfield equipment - Targoviste. (1977)

1 May oil-equipment factories Ploiesti.(1970)

Brazi oil refinery -1968.

Oilmens from Boldesti (Ploiesti region) in 1955.

Drilling for oil - Moreni,1955.

Stone column thermal cracking plant, oil refinery workers rebuilt following the destruction caused by bombing. (Ploiesti,1948)

People from Ploiesti working on recovery- they remove the bombing aftermath of war - 1945.

Moreni oil wells in 1931 - night vision

Original photo from Mr.Daniel Paun(Moreni).

Columbia-Aquila refinery during construction

Colombia-Aquila refinery during construction in Ploiesti,1931.

Original photos. Owner Mr. Daniel Paun from Moreni .

Bustenari oil field-old photos

Bustenari,1916.This oilfield was spread over a large expanse of territory situated between the Telega and Doftana villages and contains the sections known as Telega - Calinet - Grusar - Mislisoara - Gropi - Chiciura - Bustenari—Stejar and Bordeni. It was very old field and oil has been extracted until the point of exhaustion. Between 1900 and 1919 the wells do not fluctuate too much in their production and many wells have been steadily producing with no appreciable diminution . In 1916 the number of oil wells reached 402 in production and 190 in drilling held by 80 companies or private owners.

Transport of petroleum equipment

Transport of petroleum equipment in Romania in the early 20th century.

The hand dug oil wells

First manually dug wells in Romania were made in the mid 19th century in the Păcureţi – Prahova, exploitation of oil wells was being done by hand wells with pulley and hecne with horse.The depth of these wells typically reached up to 150 meters by hand digging a well with a diameter of about 1.5 meters and alternative crossing of layers of clay, sandy clay, sandstone and oil-bearing sand.Lighting in the first phase is achieved through a system of mirrors and an advanced miner's lamps were used. In case of gas infiltration those lamps stopped flickering and so it had the advantage of preventing any explosion.

Roumanie-Puits de petrole(Campina,1910).

To ventilate the shaft in the beginning were used forging swell and, much later, primitive pumps.Descending into the well was made with the help of a bucket that was also used to evacuate the detritus resulted from excavations. This bucket connected to a rope was operated by a pulley or by a mule. Because of the stifling heat that increased in the depth, workers descended into the well dressed summary and they wore a heavy and uncomfortable metal hat on their head, a precursor to future helmets. Walls of the dug well were lined with impermeable clay and osier wicker against water infiltration. Wood was used as raw material in strengthening wells by using special hence. When the source of oil was reached the extraction began, oil being pull out using large buckets. When a bucket of oil was extracted another one was lowered into the well. With these primitive methods there could be extracted up to 10 tons of oil per day. The deepest wells dug by such means were in Breaza (320m) and at Popeşti – Urlaţi.