Jump to content

Drilling for oil during WW2....


Guest tsavo

Recommended Posts

Google is to blame for this post. Googled Kelham and came across this remarkable story.

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=h...l%3Den%26sa%3DN

Drilling for oil in Sherwood Forest in WW2 is perhaps not as surprising and unlikely as it may at first seem

There was a similar oil shortage in WW1 and at the time there were working oil wells at Hardstoft and Tibshelf in Derbyshire, the Hardstoft well closing in 1918. The quantity of oil found was low but commercially viable at the time when, due to war our normal supplies from abroad were either cut off or very risky to obtain.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Drilling for oil in Sherwood Forest in WW2 is perhaps not as surprising and unlikely as it may at first seem

There was a similar oil shortage in WW1 and at the time there were working oil wells at Hardstoft and Tibshelf in Derbyshire, the Hardstoft well closing in 1918. The quantity of oil found was low but commercially viable at the time when, due to war our normal supplies from abroad were either cut off or very risky to obtain.

Perhaps now is the time to open them up again. W/E.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Perhaps now is the time to open them up again. W/E.

As well as the oil wells Derbyshire also had a large number of coal mines, even as recently as 40 years ago. None of them are open and running today. The day may be coming when it again becomes viable to mine coal because, eco unfriendly and anti green or not, we will need to obtain vast amounts of energy from somewhere.

Recent events in Japan tell me that nuclear power is not the answer, it is far too dangerous.

The price of gas and oil based fuels is spiraling out of control as demand far exceeds a supply which is rapidly running out.

..and the so called sustainable green options will never meet the demand, producing puny and unreliable amounts of power from a massive investment.

Until there is a viable alternative coal may have to be used again to fill the gap.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Somewhere I came across something about exploratory drilling for oil above Ringinglow. I'll see if I can find it again!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As well as the oil wells Derbyshire also had a large number of coal mines, even as recently as 40 years ago. None of them are open and running today. The day may be coming when it again becomes viable to mine coal because, eco unfriendly and anti green or not, we will need to obtain vast amounts of energy from somewhere.

Recent events in Japan tell me that nuclear power is not the answer, it is far too dangerous.

The price of gas and oil based fuels is spiraling out of control as demand far exceeds a supply which is rapidly running out.

..and the so called sustainable green options will never meet the demand, producing puny and unreliable amounts of power from a MASSIVE investment.

Until there is a viable alternative coal may have to be used again to fill the gap.

Even Oil, running out though it is, has its time and place for exploitation. The Bonga field off Nigeria was first worked about five years ago (I worked at the place the rig-gear (27,500 tonnes of it) was fitted onto the container vessel (300,000 tonnes, 1,100 feet long, 200 feet wide and 200 feet high before our additions; I did climb out the flare-stack once it was in place - approximately 375 feet above the Tyne and stood on a wire-platform you could see through ...)

Anyway, to the point of this post - the Bonga field, the worlds largest remaining oil field was discovered in 1975-76 but couldn't be drilled with the technology of the day.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Anyway, to the point of this post - the Bonga field, the worlds largest remaining oil field was discovered in 1975-76 but couldn't be drilled with the technology of the day.

That figures,

As the easily accessible and readily available oil is running out oil companies are being forced to look for and extract oil from less accessible and less hospitable environments than before.

Even drilling for oil under the sea rather than on land was a major technical challenge.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...