SOCIETY OF PETROLEUM FNGINEERS OF AINDi

6200 North Central Expressway

Dallas, Texas

=RSPE

3096

THIS IS A PREPRINT --- SUBJECT TO CORRECTION

Pollution

Control

in

Spindletop

Oil

the
to

Santa

Industry

From

Barbara

w
amD.

T,
_

and ~y

@
American

Institute

of ilIining,

Copyright
Metallurgical,

T=

1970
and Petroleum

Engineers,

Inc.

This paper was prepared for the 45th Annual Fall Meeting of the Society of Petroleum Engineers
of AIME, to be held in Houston, Tex., Oct. 4-7, 1970. Permission to copy is restricted to an
abstract of not more than 300 words. Illustrationsmay not be copied. The abstract should contain
conspicuous acknowledgmentof where and by whom the paper is presented. Publication elsewhere after
publication in the JOURNAL OF PETROLEUT4TECHNOLOGY or the SOCIETY OF PETROLEUM ENGINEERS JOURNAL is
.,
usua.u.ygraritedupon .kW_..
-o~~TQ~+t~ the Editor of the appropriate journal provided agreement to give
proper credit is made.
Discussion of this paper is invited. Three copies of any discussion should be sent to the
Society of Petroleum Engineers office. Such discussion may be presented at the above meeting and,
with the paper, may be considered for publication in one of the $WO SPE magazines.
ABSTRACT
Much of the modern character of the oil
industrywas established at Spindletop in the
:arly days of the twentieth century. The industry has been a leader in technologicaldefelopmentssince that time. But recent widely
publicized incidents and the publics proper
concern with cumulative contaminants in the
environmenthave placed the industry in a defensive position. This paper presents an objective view of the industrys role in pollution
control in a historical perspective and looks
to its present and future efforts to preserve
and improve the human environment coincident
=1 nrnflpss,
techfiolog~cur
~r-= -Ath

tion where the pollution controversy may

cease to exist. W. B. Hart, 1946 (2)
The same thing that characterizesmass
initiative in general is true of industry;
when anything goes wrong the remedy is long
delayed. Amos L. Beatty, 1932 (3)

The news out of Beaumont the morning of

January 10, 1901, was unprecedentedin the Unitec
States. Phenomenaland Incrediblewere rather mild adjectives to apply to the Solid Stream
of Petroleum rising out of the earth two hundre[
feet into the air at a rate later to be estimate(
as high as 100,000-barrels per day, For nine
days the well flowed undiminishedwhile frantic
INTRODUCTION
efforts were made to bring it under control.
Beaumont became the scene of frenzied activity a:
A new engineering, a new chemistry, an
people arrived from throughout the country to
awakened public opinion, and a more enprofit from the dream of Patillo tligginsand the
lightened spirit in the industries of the
persistence of Captain Anthony Lucas. While
country, are bringing on a new era in the
+~=1
--erlUim
obsessign that oil
few men had ~ha[cw
,,,yg,,,control of industrialwaste pollution.i
would be found under Spindletop Hill, there were
Editorial, Engineering News-Record, 1929
those who came forward with explanations after
(1)
the event. Among the latter was Captain Phillip
II
...these activities of the various elements H. Fall of Houston:
of industry point to the fact that industry
All Texans who have read to any extent
in general is now in a much better position,
know that out in the gulf there are placid
but best of all is on the road to a posiwaters for miles in the roughest weather,
while all around the waves are mountain
?eferencesat
end of paper.
__~

FC!!JJJTI!N
CONTROL 1 THE OIL INDUSTRY FROM SPINDLETOP ) SANTA BARBARA
caused by oil finding an outlet at the bottom of the gulf. No doubt this is the vein
the Beaumonters have struck and arew~ld
over, My idea is that were some practical
parties to sink an immense iron pipe below
the water and into the ground, there would
he fou~d a gusher that would SUPplY the
world for centuries. No doubt it has
bubbled up through the waters for thousands
of years, and the billions upon billions of
barrels wasted makes me tired to think
about. The amount gone to waste would
drown half the world in oil. (4)

SFE 3G96

tightened on the operation of existing wells and

other facilities. But the oil spills are only
part of the total picture. The concern extends
to all ofmans activities, community and inA..,.+M<S7ail,=n~ +C internationalin scope. It
Uu>bllal,
tiouldbe a mistake to dismiss the environmental
crisis
as emotional hysteria. Behind the ob.
tayict.
I.lA<-P
V1OUS confiusiijn
WIllvI Anac
~WS.e..
.-- there is the
rational and justifiable demand on the part of
the public, and that includes everyone, to review what we have done, where we are, and where
ue are going. Reject that which is bad; retain
that which is good; develop that which we need.
We look to the oil industry to understand and
accept this public concern; participate objectively in this review; and provide enlightened
leadership on the path of continued progress.

On January 28, 1969, in the Santa Barbara

~hannel off the coast of California another well
vas out of control, As a gusher the Union Oil
Gompany A-21 was not in the same class with the
Lucas well at Spindletop,but its 500 barrels pel STRUCTURE OF THE OIL INDUSTRY
4-,,
Jay of crude o!! were rising to the surface of
Tne modern oil industry is an Integrated
the sea and menacing the Southern California
beaches. To a public which two years before
complex of dissimilar functions. These are
generally classified as:
nad witnessed the efforts of the English and
French to stave off the oil from the foundered
Exploration
tanker Torrey Canyon, and which was becoming in;: Drilling and Production
creasingly assailed by a bewildering array of
3. Transportation
environmentalproblems, this was too much.
4. Refining
Once the symbol of overnight wealth, the
5. Petrochemicalprocessing
.
gusher was becoming a symbol of environmental
6. Marketing
insult.
The larger companies in the industry operate
It has been said that Spindletop was where
within all of these areas, while the operations
oil became an industry. (5) Its impact had to
of many companies may fall within only one.
Petrochemicalprocessing may properly be conbe felt. In 1900, the final year of the ninesidered as a part of the chemical industry; howteenth century, total crude oil production in
tbe stste of Texas was 836,000 barrels. By
ever, since its raw materials are derived from
petroieum it is linked in reality am! in the
1905 it had risen to 28,136,000 barrels. Companies which trace their origin to Spindletop;
whlic image to the oil industry. With the
Gulf, Texaco, Humble; are now giants of the in- possible exception of exploration the operations
dustry, A petroleum industry almost entirely
of each of these areas present a definite potential for env!rmnental disruption, pollution,
limited to the provision of illuminatingoil
or contamination. For a review of the past,
was preparing to usher in the liquid fuel age.
A young Henry Ford was waiting in the wings with present and future involvementof the oil inthe machine that Gets you there, gets you back. dustry in pollution control it is convenient to
(6) And the Wright Brothers were ready to prove follow the above classificationwith the exception of exploration.
that the sky was no longer a limit to mans
activities. The twentieth century had arrived,
DRILLING AND PRODUCTION
and with the developing oil industry providing
resources and leadership,mankind was embarking
Spindletop set the pattern for the oil boom,
on a technologicalexcursion destined to exceed
The pattern was repeated many times at such plac[
the wildest dreams of foregoing generations.
as Burkburnett, Ranger, Mexia and Smackover.
The time is too short to judge the lasting Through East Texas, West Texas, Oklahoma and
impact of Santa Barbara and her companion major California. Fortunes were quickly made and in
oil spills of recent years, Torrey Canyon, Ocean many cases just as quickly lost. The oil industry was the oil game,(7)and drilling and
Eagle, and Platform C. But the immediate impact is being felt throughout the oil industry. production was king. The primary proDlems facin!
the oil industry in the first thirty-fiveyears
New legislation is becoming a daily reality.
Major expansion projects are being withheld
of the century were overproductionand fluctuapending extensive investigations. Leases are
ting economics. It was to this situation that
a<
being cancelled. Restrictions are being
AinosL. E!ezt.ty,
.. president of the American

jp~Sogfj

WILLIAM D. LANGLEY AND PETERM. DUNSAVAGE

Neches and Angelina Rivers in the south. The

resultant water was destructive to fish and unfit for conrnunity,industrial, or agricultural
use. The cities of Beaumont and Port Arthur
succeeded in obtaining a restraining injunction
against the oil operators in the field resulting
in the building of many earthen pits for salt
water disposal, This provided only temporary
relief. Engineering studies pointed toward
the feasibility of returning the salt water to
the Woodbine sand beneath the oil bearing portion of the sand, and major operators began this
type of operation in 1938, although the smaller
With overproduction,waste and pollution
operators continued to dispose of brine to the
were inevitable. In too many instanceswaste
surface. In 1942, a corporation,the East Texas
Salt Water Disposal Company, was organized to
oil and brine were allowed to flow to the
nearest natural drainage. In 1914 in the Heald- take saltwater from all operators alike in the
nature of a public utility and reinject into the
ton Field in Oklahoma, 150,000 barrels of oil
producing sand. It was argued that such an
tientinto Bayou Creek, and a Bureau of Mines
official estimated that while the Cushing Field operation would not only achieve pollution contiasproducing 174,000 barrels per day, 25,000
trol, but would maintain formation pressure and
barrels were running into Cimmaron River. (8)
result in increased oil recovery by about 600
In Louisiana, the city of Monroe was forced to
million barrels. In October, 1942, when the
seek an alternate to its municipal water supply first barrel of salt water was injected by this
company, the average bottom-hole pressure was
as the Ouachita River became an oil and salt
Mater drainage for the Smackover, Arkansas,
1020.71 psi. In May, 1956, nearly fourteen years
fields 100 miles away. (9) 8ut the city of
later, the pressure had increased to 1034.39 psi,
Monroe had no legal redress as this type of
and in the interim the field had produced 1.443
pollutionwas not covered by Federal regulations billion barrels of oil. (11)
And as they noted at the time, their position
was not counterbalancedby local prosperity.
Pressure maintenance projects are common in
the oil fields today, as are the many water-flood
But many of the oil companies recognized
secondary recovery operations and ss!t wster distheir responsibilitiesand were working to
posal wells. Although it cannot be stated unquivoca~ly that all salt water and waste oil
correct the situation within the itidustry
through voluntary and combined efforts. In
disposal operations are poliution free, they are
Santa Fe Springs, California, a group of opregulated by most states and cooperation by the
erators formed a non-profit corporation,the
operators is generally good. Most lease operaSanta Fe Springs Waste Water Disposal Company.
tions are conducted in a clean and efficient
Built at a cost of $450,000 the plant began
manner, quite often under automatic control, and
operations in 1929. Designed to achieve waste
corrosion abatement is widely practiced to minioil and brine separation, salt water disposal
mize equipment failure and leakage.
and oil recovery, the plant was able to reduce
the oil content of the brine from 500 ppm to 12
Offshore drilling and production, along with
ppm. The,oil free brine was discharged into
tanker transport operations, have now become the
the ocean at a point 16 miles from the plant
most widely viewed as potential agents of oil
site. During its first year of operation the
pollution. Considering the total number of wells
plant processed approximately29,000,000 barrels drilled and the quantity of oil handled, the oil
industrys record in both areas is good, Howof brine with the resultant recovery of 80,000
barrels of oil. Even at the low price of crude ever, a single accident of large magnitude can
prevailing at the time about half the operating have a great impact on public opinion as well as
expense was offset by the value of the reclaimed doing considerabledamage to wildlife, commercial
oi1. (10) About this operation the journal
fisheries and recreational areas. The regulaEngineering News-Record editorialized, A new
tion of offshore drilling is in a state of flux
engineering, a new chemistry, an awakened public at the present time, It can be expected that
opinion and a more enlightenedspirit in the
public interest in this type of operation will
industries of the country, are bringing on a
remain high inasmuch as offshore leases are innew era in the control of industrialwaste
variably in the public domain. Reliable techpollution. (1)
nology to cope with an offshore pollution incident admittedly does not exist. This has been
The East Texas field, discovered in 1930,
demonstrated. The industry is, however, engaged
was another which presented a serious salt water in the development and testing of such technolog)
problem. Brine from this field drained into the and procedures through individual company
Sabine River watershed in the north and the
efforts, through the American Petroleum Institute
Petroleum Institute in 1932, addressed himself
#hen he said, !!Thesame thing that characterizes
mass initiative in general is true of industry;
tihenanything goes wrong the remedy is long delayed. (3) Town lot drilling was notuncommon during this era as everyone sought to obtain the oil beneath his land and no regulations
existed to prevent it. The price of oil fluctuated over a wide range in response to supply
and demand. The wells were flowing wide open
~ith oil and its associated brine and few areas
~ere equipped to cope with the excess of either,

POLLUTION CONTROL IN THE OIL INDUSTRY mamnnmn

FI-.A.*
*m..,ms
t--fire
VA r-a*rrn
rwrl >rlwulur
I(J 3HI41H
DHKDAKH

and through cooperationwith governmental agenties. It is recognized that the ultimate solution must come through preventive techniques
and the conscientiousapplication of such techniques as are available.
TRANSPORTATION

CDK
wtoc
41L
.JUJU

government regulation exercises constant Iiiie

surveillance and continually strives to upgrade
material specifications,corrosion control and
welding standards. On many lines automatic pump
shutdown is signaled by line pressure drops of
a specific magnitude. Block valves are installed
at river crossings to minimize drain-back should
line breaks occur within the river segment.
Pipelines are presently undergoing a system of
thorough review in which many lines will be
subjected to pressure tests well in excess of
normal operating pressure and requirementsfor
reporting of line breaks or leaks are being
rigidly enforced.

Oil must be moved. And from the earliest

days of oil in this country the movement of oil
and its refined products has represented one of
the most complex problems facing the industry
and one of the greatest factors controlling its
economy. The oaken barrel of 42 gallons capacity became the standard container for transporting the oil down Oil Creek to the river
The present public concern that oil industry
cities and railroad terminals of western Pennactivities be conducted with proper consideration
sylvania, The flotilla of flat bottom oil
for environmentalfactors is nowhere better ilboats loaded with barrels of crude was a specIustrated than in the present status of the
proposed Trans Alaska Pipeline System, Designed
tacuiar sight as the boat pilots maneuvered
their craft through the snags and sandbars, on
to transport North Slope oil from Prudnoe i3ay
their way to Oil City. Possibly the first major to the southern coast of Alaska, approval for
this project is being withheld by the Federal
oil spill occurred in 1860 when 150 boats and
30,000 barrels of crude were lost as one barge
Government pending assurance that the project
,,
A .,<+h,+,,+
in the first line struck a sunken log. (12)
can be completed ana maintaifieu
WIUIUU~ .*Y
The barges were eventually replaced by the oil
nificant disruption of the physical characterteam~ter~ whc made the shcrt haul over rugged
istics and wildlife ecology of the previously
~ne ~~a~u~ of
terrain with their wagons loaded with oil for
undisturbedAlaskan frontier.
the fantastic wages of thirty dollars per day,
this project further illustrates the critical
But men with foresight and ingenuity, among
importance of a transportationsystem to the real
them John David Rockefeller,were thinking in
value of oil and the impact such a system or its
terms of pipelines. Realizing the key imporIack can have on the lwal economy.
tance of transportationto the oil industry,
they began to build the network of iron and
Where the pipelines end at the edge of the
steel that today commonly, and for the most
sea, the ocean-going tankers take over. The
part invisibly, conducts the crude oil to far
ail is kept moving in the internationaltrade.
away refineries and the refined products to
One of the first tankers to be put in service
was the W. L. Hardison, commissioned in 1889.
distribution points throughout the country,
A steamer of 6,500 barrels capacity, she was
Pipeliners had much to learn as they
intended to transport oil from the Southern
developed their art, The first long line across California fields to San Francisco as a counterthe Alleghenies was laid in mid-winter on the
attack to high tank car rates. Her life was
short; however, as during the night of June 25,
open ground alongside a public road. When the
hot summer came the thick walled pipe expanded 1889, a galley fire spread rapidly throughout
with the heat, twisted all over the road, upthe ship as it was moored to the wharf at Ventura
rooted trees and knocked down telegraph poles.
and the Hardison was reduced to a burned out
But the state of the art developed as the lines hulk. (14)
spread their way, now underground, across the
n.L Areal,
o ,leJh w ~0 ~tay and their
Dub
Lallmerswer=
country. By 1910 the web of pipelines had hecome 20,000 miles; by 1920, 70,000; and by 1930
continued development and expanded use became a
had reached 112.000
necessary part of internationalcommerce. In
-. miles. Today in the United
States there is an underground arterial network World Wars i and 11 the comnerc~al fleet was
in excess of 200,000 miles of oil pipelines
pressed into service by the U. S. Navy and played
nn the
order of 1,000
...,.-.+~~~
.+ nw~ccllr~<
an indispensablerole in logistical support of
UpC1abllly
uk
y,h..-=o..-..
.
.
be
all branches OT the armed forces. As lwlo~?d
pounds per square inch. In 1965, this system
expected, many of these tankers became the victim
transported in excess of 1 billion tons of
oil and other hazardous substances. (13) .The
of submarine warfare and still rest at the bottom
system is serviced by a large network of trans- of the sea, in many instances their cargoes still
remaining as a pollutional threat.
fer and storage facilities, pump stations and
product terminals. In such a system the potential for environmentaldisruption through
The great increases in tanker size and caline breaks, ruptured tanks, or human failure
pacity have come in the past decade. In 1906
is widespread and a constant threat. To meet
tankers existed with capacity of 55,000 barrels.
th~s threat the ~n~lletvv
,,,..J voluntarily
.- .
and through As recently as World War 11 the most economical
c;n-

SPE 3096

WILLIAM D. LANGLEY A[

PETER M. DUNSAVAGE

!J

in western Pennsylvaniawere not uncommon. But

with the advent of the automobile the market for
gasoline began to develop and by 1911 the value
of refined gasoline exceeded that of kerosene.
By 1919 the quantity of gasoline far surpassed
J ..--8)
.iflnifirant
increases were
Kerosene aiiu
very
=B=g,t, ,w-..d
occurring in fuel oil and lubricatingoil. The
tremendous gains in gasoline demand, however, di(
not require a directly proportional increase in
the quantity of crude oil runs. Had this been
the case, with kerosene failing to keep pace,
the kerosene obviously would have become a product of low value and consequent waste. Instead,
the art and science of cracking, producing
lighter fractions from the heavier, was de.velope!
and widely used by the latter part of the decade
before 1920. With the refining developments
came the production of by-product gases which
could be oxidized or otherwise reacted to produc(
a variety of organic chemicals of commerce, and
the petrochemical industry was born. Refining
capacity in the United States by 1950 was on the
order of 6 million barrels per day. In 1970 it
is in excess of 12 million barrels per day. This
increase in refining capacity has been brought
about with a reduction in the total number of
operating refineries as many of the small,
It has been estimated that as many as 10,000 obsolete ones were shut down to be repiaced by
oil spills occur each year. Most of these are
new or expanded refineries of greatly increased
relativelyminor and occur in harbor and port
capacity, many in excess of 150,000 barrels per
areas where containment and clean-up devices may
day. At the present time about 10% of the rebe adequate to cope with the situation. These
fineries in the United States account for approx
have been recognized as a problem for many years. imately 46% of the total capacity. (18) The
The oil industry has cooperatedwith local harbor Petrochemical Industry has undergone spectacular
and Coast Guard authorities in organizing or
growth since World War 11. Petrochemicals
planning about 50 harbor cooperativeswhich are
account for only about 4% of total crude probeing equipped to contend with emergency sitcessing yet account for 80% of organic chemicals
uations. However, as has been indicated, the
production and about 10% of inorganic chemicals.
large spills of the magnitude of a Torrey Canyon
incident or an Ocean Eagle, occurring near shore
Refineries require vast quantities of water
but in the open sea, present a situation with
for cooling purposes, steam generation, sanitarj
tihichpresent technology is inadequate to cope.
service, and process operations. Although most
Discussions of systems presently underdevelopof this water is for cooling purposes only and
ment and being readied for testing are available may be reused through several cycles in its life-*L-.-\Id,
(1K IG) ~n~ will
not be discussed
elSeWrierc
time within the plant, all of the water taken
+n a natural
sink or
+,ti~mn~
here. It is important that the industry, alin 1s eventually rebul,,=u
.W - ..
though belatedly, is aware of the problems inlost by evaporation to the atmosphere. The
volved and is providing its support to the effort! water effluent from a refinery may range from
of the American Petroleum Institute and agencies 50 gallons per barrel of crude processed for the
of the federal government in devising the means
large, modem refineriesto 200 gallons or more
per barrel of crude for the smaller ones. In
to cope with and ultimately prevent or minimize
future oil spill incidents,
its trip through the refineries this water may
take on many impurities including waste oils,
- -------ill-ii
6A DDnrc~cTyG
KOmmld
I-mvw&~.,JETROLELIM
REFINING AiiUI-LI
phenols, sulfides, inorganic salts, acids,
alkalies and a variety of dissolved organic sub=
Prior to this century oil was refined pristances in addition to the aforementioned
narily for its kerosene content. The gasoline
phenols. Refinery wastewaters have a very sigFractionwas a waste to be discarded. The rivers nificant potential for polluting the receiving
md streams adjoining the small refineries thus
waters and this potential has long been recog)ecame a conmon receptacle. The gasoline polnized.
luted the streams and destroyed their contained
life. It made the waters unfit for drinking
But has this recognition been accompanied
~urposes and resulted in the death of livestock.. by active response? In 1930, the American
(17) Fires on the surface of rivers and streams
Petroleum Institute Committee for the Disposal
:apacitywas considered to be about 100,000 bar*els. In the decade of the 1950s the super
tankersbegan to appear with 500,000 barrels
:apacity. The Torrey Canyon, which ran aground
jff the ~oa~t of COmWall in 1967, was a jumboizedtanker of 870,000 barrels capacity.
rankers are now on order or being put into ser~ice ~fth ~~pa~~ty on the order Qf 2 million
]arrels,while 3 million is under consideration.
rankers of such size and capacity have necessitated proportionate increases in the capacity
md size of terminal facilities. The capacity
of the large super-tankers is necessitatedby
the economics of crude oil transportationover
long distances. At one time the dimensions of
the Suez Canal was a controlling factor in tanker
construction, With its closing in 1956, this
#as removed as a size factor, but with th~s came
the necessity of making the long trip around the
Cape of Good Hope for tankers servicing the MidEast oil fields. Obviously, the use of tankers
c?fthis size present a very significant potential
for oil spills of vast magnitude and places the
oil industry in a critical position with regard
to the development of the technology and procedures to contain and remove the spilled oil.

b,

~wrn
.,4.ar Nuulur

IUY+NI H

t) fiKIStiKfi

arG aVYQ

of Refinery Waste first published a multi-volume been encased in confining rock for millions of
edition of detailed methods by which wastewaters years. It begins its journey through pipelines,
could be treated without adversely affecting the by tanker, or other means to a refinery half a
continent or half a world away. It emerges from
surface waters. (19) This edition has been
the refinery separated into its components,
revised on several occasions since that time.
The technology of refinery waste treatment is
purified, or transformed. Ideally, it has never
been seen by human eye in the entire process.
thus available and has been available for many
years. During this time virtually all refineriesThe products ready for market bear little or no
have employed some form of waste oil separation, resemblanceto the crude oil from which they care
In many instances these products will be diseither API separators or earthen basins, with
subsequent oil recovery or disposal. However,
tributed to the consumer by an industry which itself bears no relation to the oil industry. The
as recently as 1950 only 10% of the refineries
used any form of secondary treatment for repaint industry--solvents. The plastics industrymoval of dissolved pollutantswhich contribute
-vinyls, acrylics, polyethylene. Agricultural
tQ the oxygen depletion of receiving waters.
chemicals--fertilizers,pesticides. The textile
This figure was significantly increased duriiig industry--nylon,dacron. The rubber industry-carbon black, synthetic rubber. Household
the decade of the 1960s as the concern for the
cleaners--syntheticdetergents. There is vircondition of our nations water resources betually no industry which is not a significant
gan to intensify. By 1967, about 50% of the
user or distributor of products derived from
refinerieswere providing secondary treatment
for their wastewaters andby 1977, virtually
petroleum. And virtually all of these products
are or have been involved in some phase of the
all refineries should have some form of secondary treatment, many of them employing high rate pollution controversy.
bio-oxidation processes. In 1967, the replacement costs for wastewater facilities for all
In the early sixties mountains of foam
U, S. Refinerieswas estimated to be $275,000,000were clogging many of the rivers and streams of
with annual operating costs of $55,000,000, (18) the nation. This foam was reappearing in the
drinking water in the large urban areas. This
Undoubtedly,inresponse to public concern and
legislativeaction these figures have increased was possibly the first dramatic demonstrationof
significantly in the past two years.
how one persons wastewater becomes another
persons water supply. Alkyl benzene sulfonate,
In 1946-47, W. B. Hart, in charge of waste
a petrochemicalproduct which had surpassed soap
disposal for Atlantic Refining Company (company as a cleansing agent, was not being degraded by
name and structure since changed), reviewed
our biological sewage treatment processes or in
industrys relation to the problem of water
the rivers and streams accepting the wastewater
flOws. By legislativeaction, this chemical, or
pollution in a series of twenty articles first
published in the journal Petroleum Processin~.
rather mixture of chemicals, produced by a reMr, Harts articles are timely and, in a sense,
latively inexpensive process, was banned from
prophetic, They deserve to be reread by
use in household detergent formulations. It
management and technical personnel, He conwas replaced generally by a similar chemical,
eludes his first article as follows:
linear chain alkyl benzene sulfonate, produced b)
a slightly more complicated and more expensive
Although a general survey of industrys
process. The latter chemical; however, is
position shows a great deal of improvedegraded biologically in a reasonable time. The
ment, and that much of this improvement
foam began to disappear.
has come about in the petroleum refining
G+naripc ,-.
But this was only one problem solved. The
Industry, tnere are st;ll some re,,,,~,
which have not changed from the old
nation had become aware of simiiar problems.
attitude. Also, plans and blueprints
Problems much more difficult to counter or even
will not treat wastes or prevent pollution. to comprehend. Advances in analytical chemistry
into
equipment were providing the tools to detect and quantify
+ ha
They f;rst mus.
- +vansl~ted
..w.,
in successful operation. Unless this is
the many substances we were releas~ng to our
land, water and atmosphere, and we were able to
done willingly, and in reasonable time, it
~-1.~+h
+
+ho~
federal
or
LllaLoL,,&,
see that many of these were accumulatingto
is very prouduIe
state authoritieswill resort to comalarming levels and that there was literally no
place on Earth completely free of the residues 01
pulsion. These authorities have the power
to enforce such action, and have exercised civilization.
their powers in the past. There is nothing
to indicate that they wont do likewise in
The automobile, the greatest consumer of a
the future, (2)
petroleum product, is tagged as the number one
contributor of pollutants to the atmosphere.
MARKETING
This is one of our most critical pollution
problems and possibly the one which is of
Oil is brought from the ground where it has greatest immediate concern to the petroleum

SPE 3096

WILLIAM D. LANGLEY /!D PETERM. DUNSAVAGE

In our attempt to review the industrys

industry. Through cooperationwith the automotive industry, automobile exhausts must be
activities in a historical perspectivewe have
made clean, or the use of automobileswill be
personally gained a greater understandingof the
problems associated with the production of oil,
severely restricted. These restrictionscould
its transportation,processing and marketing.
include eventual banning of the internal combustion engine. Automobile exhausts contain
Obviously the industry has accomplishedmuch in
carbon monoxide, oxides of nitrogen and rethe manner in which these operations are performsidual hydrocarbons. The carbon monoxide is
ed. Yet much remains to be done. This is also
of course, a poisonous gas of well characterized apparent.
toxicity. The oxides of nitrogen and residual
hydrocarbonsunder the proper conditions beThe problems of today are not entirely recome involved in photochemical reactions which
lated to past inaction, although certainly the
give rise to irritants of generally unknown
degree and timing of action is a factor. They
acute or chronic toxicity. Periodic episodes
are also associatedwith increased complexity,
of severe atmospheric pollution have become
expanded scale of industrial activity, and poprelatively common in most urban areas in the
ulation dynamics. Efforts to counteract these
highly developed nations and a chronic condition developments have lagged rather than anticipated
them
in some, The gradual death of some species of
-,,
-.,.,Therefore, much of the activity that is
plant life is being attributed to trace levels
occurring in the environmental arena today must
of pollutants spreading through the atmosphere
be directed toward correcting those problems we
many miles from their source. Tetraethyl lead, have ignored, controlling those we presently
which first went into use as a gasoline additive have, and foreseeing and preventing future probin the 1920s and which is considered so imlems development.
portant to the efficiency of the internal comIf one thing can be gained by an historical
bustion engine, is embroiled in the environmen-:J..,_&:am
excursion it is to develop a mental link with
~~tsrt.able
lead residues are
as -w
----tal Slbuakiw,
narcnns
of ~ast generations. The present authors
w=.-w..
beina measured throughout the country. A
do
not
knowb/,
B: Hart, yet in reading his ?iit.fresolution of this situation will ce}tainly
cles they developed a profound respect for his
require cooperative efforts of the automotive
insight, knowledge and ability. We are convincec
and petroleum industrieswith possible government intervention. These questions are demand- that such persons exist at various levels of inina answers. And we have develo~ed to the ooint, Ustry oda-Y These t)ersonsmust be recomized
and the situation has become so critical, that and e;coura~ed in their efforts to view a-problem in its proper perspective and advise managetheanswers must be right,
ment where action is needed._
.There is little to b~ gained by a further
It is our belief that industry need not
recounting here of the oil industrys stake in
fear government regulation per se. It was disthe pollutional involvement of its products.
covered in the 1930s that government regulation
Its stake is great, indeed. It must be conwas a necessary component in the conservation
cerned with the sulfur content of fuel oils,
of oil and gas. It is also a necessary component
the persistence of chlorinated hydrocarbon
in the conservation of water and air. The need
pesticides, the extreme toxicity of the less
for industry cooperation in writing future legpersistent phosphate pesticides, the runoff of
islation need not be emphasized. It should be
agricultural fertilizers,the degradabilityof
self-evident. .Eutindustry must recognize that
plastic containers. T!neseproblems extend
~~~ointerestsof the public require protection
throughout the industry and the time and efforts
.
of many of its technical people are being directed toward solving them. The experience and
The public has been told many times and is
training that can best be utilized in arriving
intelligent enough to realize that pollution conat solutions have been developed within the introl will cost money and that the consumer and
dustry. It is essential to the nation that this taxpayer will be the ones to pay the costs. Be
industry provide the leadership that is critithat as it may, there has been no outburst of
cally needed at this time.
public opposition at the announcementof the cost
figures which will be required. We believe that
CONCLUSION
the,public is now ready and willing to pay the
costs for a program of lasting benefit that acThe authors of this paper are not presently complishes its objectives. This does not release
associatedwith the oil industry. In expressing industry from its responsibilityto achieve some
what we see as the industrys involvement in
measure of pollution control by the review and
pollution control it has not been our intent
elimination of wasteful operations.
to condemn, condone, nor praise. It is simply
our feeling that problems of the present have
We will not conclude, as many reports have
their roots in the past, and the present environ. in the past, by saying the condition was indeed
mental condition is no exception.
bad but has improved. We merely suggest, to

POLLUTION CONTROL IN THE OIL INDUSTRY FROM SPINDLETOP 0 SANTA BARBARA

paraphraseJudge Beatty, that something has

gone wrong, and the remedy can no longer be
delayed.
4CKNOWI.EDGEMENTS

9.

10.

The authors wish to express their appreciation to Mr. A. R. Rescorla of the Committee for 11.
Air and Water Conservation,American Petroleum
Institute, for providing therewith a copy of the
Report to the Directors covering the Survey of
~jj7pollutionConditions in the United States,
. No specific reference has been taken from
this report, but it was of great value in providing an overview of the situation as it existed at that time.

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