Pipeline

“ Vendergrift & Forman constructed a pipeline and telegraph to Oil City. Gas fired the boilers, lighted the streets, heated the dwellings and great quantities wasted. The pressure could be run up to three-hundred pounds and utilized to run engines in place of steam, were it not for the fine grit with the gas, which wore out the cylinders. Wells that supplied fuel to pump themselves seemed very similar to mills that furnished their own motive-power and grist for the hoppers. A cow that gave milk and provided food for herself by the process could not be slicker. ”

“ The entire movement of the gas, from producing wells through the Phillips gasoline plant and into the Michigan-Wisconsin pipeline to consumers outside Texas, is a steady and continuous flow. All of Michigan-Wisconsin's gas is purchased from Phillips for transportation to points outside Texas, and is in fact so transported. ”

“ This information will be known collectively by a number of pipelines; an individual producer cannot even know what customer of the purchasing pipeline will receive the gas it supplies.46 Although it might be possible for the Commission to require the relevant pipeline or pipelines to furnish all this information in each producer certification proceeding,47 that procedure would be cumbersome and would lengthen the producer proceedings, which we have previously commended the Commission for endeavoring to shorten. ”

“ Under my Administration, we’re producing more oil than at any other time in the last eight years. We’ve quadrupled the number of operating oil rigs to a record high. And we’ve added enough oil and gas pipeline to circle the entire Earth and then some. ”

“ Michigan-Wisconsin has constructed a pipeline extending from Texas to Michigan and Wisconsin. At points in these two States and in Missouri and Iowa it sells gas to distribution companies which serve markets in those areas. [3] It sells no gas in Texas. ”

“ The gas flows from the producing wells, in most instances at well pressure, through a network of converging pipelines of progressively larger size to one of twelve processing plants, where extractable products and impurities are removed. ”

“ That the combination had obtained control of the pipelines available for transporting oil from the oil fields to the refineries in Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Titusville, Philadelphia, New York and New Jersey. c. That the combination during the period named had obtained a complete mastery over the oil industry, controlling 90 percent of the business of producing, shipping, refining and selling petroleum and its products, and thus was able to fix the price of crude and refined petroleum and to restrain and monopolize all interstate commerce in those products. ”

“ Q Ari, back on the question about gas prices in Illinois, you said that the President has something that will help people today and help people tomorrow. Now, a pipeline -- new pipeline construction, new power plant construction, new imports from Canada and Mexico will not help people today, and they will not help people tomorrow. It will help people in time. Is there some other program that we don't know about that he has got in mind that is going to help people tomorrow? ”

“ The processing of the gas at this central gathering plant is necessary to remove hydrocarbons, hydrogen sulphide and other foreign elements in order to permit its use as fuel. The plant operates only while the wells are producing. All of Phillips' operations, including the acreage from which the wells produce the gas, the wells themselves, the lines that connect with each of them and run to the central plant, form a closely knit unit that is entirely local to the field involved. After processing, the gas is immediately delivered to the interstate pipelines under long-term sales contracts. ”

“ Since there are no facilities for storage, the amount of gas, other than casinghead, #fn-s-s [1] produced and gathered each day depends on the day-to-day demands of the interstate pipelines, which in turn depend on weather and other conditions in consuming areas. Gas wells are cut on and off as the market demand for the gas requires. Gathering takes place by well pressure forcing the gas through numerous small pipes connecting each well with the central gathering plant or processing station. It is there that the gas first comes to a common 'header' and is processed for use as fuel. ”

“ Other interstate pipelines and distribution companies, however, have more than adequate supplies of natural gas to meet the needs of residences, small commercial establishments and other high priority users. ”

“ Ed.'s proposed 'inferior' use of gas under its industrial boilers would be wasteful of gas committed to the Commission's jurisdiction and, by the same token, would pre-empt space in pipelines that might otherwise be used for transportation of gas for superior uses. ”

“ Factors for Consideration— In conducting the study under subsection (a) , the Secretary shall take into consideration— (1) the quantity of ethanol production that would make dedicated pipelines economically viable; (2) existing or potential barriers to the construction of pipelines dedicated to the transportation of ethanol, including technical, siting, financing, and regulatory barriers; (3) market risk (including throughput risk) and means of mitigating the risk ”

“ In short, Interstate was the equivalent of a middleman between gatherers and the pipelines for almost all the gas it sold to the pipelines and performed the function of transporting the gas it purchased from other gatherers through its branch, trunk, and main trunk lines. Phillips performs no such middleman or transmission function. ”

“ The building of the pipe-lines introduced another formidable competitor to the railroads, but as oil could be transported by pumping through pipes at a much less cost than by hauling in tank-cars in a railroad train the development of the pipe-line was inevitable. The question was simply whether the oil traffic was sufficient in volume to make the investment profitable. When pipe-lines had been built to oil fields where the wells had ceased to yield, as often happened, they were about the most useless property imaginable. ”

“ They eliminated the jaded horses, oil-boats, wooden tankage, and slow freights, tedious methods, and questionable practices of handling petroleum, and substituted therefor the stem pump, the iron conduit, the steel tank storage, and systematic and businesslike methods which soon commanded the confidence and respect of all oil-producers. They extended their pipe-lines to practically every producing well and established a transportation system which serves the industry to-day as no other on earth is served. The advantages of the modern pipe-line to the oil-producer are obvious. ”

“ The small line connected with his tank conveys the crude oil therefrom, either by gravity or by means of a pump, into a receiving tank of the gathering or field lines of the pipe-line system, from which it is pumped into the main trunk pipe-lines to the refineries.
OIL PIPE-LINE CONNECTIONS IN THE AMERICAN FIELDS
The system by which the producer can have payment for his oil at any time, for he is credited with its value when it once enters the pipe-line, is the perfection of simplicity, accuracy, and efficiency. ”

“ At every stage of its journey from the hole in the ground to the abode of the purchaser of kerosene, oil is handled with a view to the best results. The pipe-line relieves the producer from worry and fatigue and a large outlay, furnishing him prompt service and a cash market at his own door every business-day in the year. It enables the refiner to fill the consumer’s lamp at a trifling margin above the price of crude. For seventy cents a barrel—less than half it cost formerly to haul it a mile—the line collects oil from the wells, pumps it into the trunk-lines and delivers it in New York. ”

“ Every now and then we run across bunches of oil and gas wells; and great signs, like those advertising boards which greet railway travelers approaching our large cities, are here and there perched upon the banks, notifying steamboat pilots, in letters a foot high, that a pipe line here crosses the river, the vicinity being consequently unsafe for mooring. ”

“ Pipe-lines are the natural outgrowth of the petroleum-business, which could no more get along without them than could the commerce of the world without railroads and steamships. The movement of a thousand barrels of crude in early times was a task of great magnitude, costly, time-consuming and perplexing. Sometimes barrels were not to be had, the water was too shallow for boating or the mud too deep for teaming. Often a big well wasted half its product and gorged transportation, harassing the soul and depleting the purse of the luckless owner. ”

“ What do we do when we want to carry water, or oil, or sewage, quickly and surely from one place to another? We put down a pipe line. We are wonderfully proud of our systems of water and gas supply, and of the great pipe lines that carry oil from wells in Ohio and Indiana clear to the Atlantic coast. But the very first man that ever laid a pipe to carry water was simply imitating nature—only about ten or fifteen million years behind her. ”

“ Bulk-boats, leaky barrels and long hauls through fathomless mud are superseded by pipe-lines, which pump oil from the wells to New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Cleveland and Chicago. The rickety stills and dangerous devices of former times have yielded to the splendid refineries that utilize every vestige of crude and furnish two-hundred merchantable commodities. For much of this important advance in tools, appliances and machinery the great Oil-Well Supply-Company is directly responsible. From small beginnings it has grown to dazzling proportions. ”

“ About three-fourths of them, owning wells with 40 per cent. of the total potential capacity of the field, have no pipe lines or refineries, and are entirely dependent for an outlet for their crude upon others who purchase and transport oil. Five companies, owning wells with about 13 per cent. of the potential production, have pipe lines or refinery connections affording a partial outlet for their production. ”

“ It is the sale and delivery of a certain kind and quality of pipe, and not the manufacture, which is the material portion of the contract, and a sale for delivery beyond the state makes the transaction a part of interstate commerce. Municipal corporations and gas, railroad, and water companies are among the chief customers for the pipe, and when they desire the article they give notice of the kind and quality, size, strength, and purpose for which the pipe is desired, and announce they will receive proposals for furnishing the same at the place indicated by them. ”

“ It is, in fact, impossible to over-estimate the importance of this up-to-date system of oil transportation in the United States as it exists to-day. To show the impossibility of conducting the present-day American petroleum industry without the use of pipe-lines, let me give a few facts. The large oil-tank cars, which are not unusual sights on our railways, hold, at the maximum, about 25 tons of oil. Excluding California altogether from these illustrations, the half-a-million barrels of oil which are transported daily in the States by pipe-lines would fill over 2,500 tank cars. ”

“ In the working day not a moment is wasted. When the whistle blows the full working pressure is ready to begin work and maintain duty until night. There is no fluctuation of pressure due to careless boiler attendance; no wheeling coal or water barrels to keep pace with advancing channelers. Some of the old boilers, discarded from steam service, are used as air receivers, these and other reservoirs, together with the pipe line itself, unite their immense storage capacity so that throughout the day there is no peak load. ”

“ The tap through which city distribution plants receive gas from the pipe line is known as the city gateway. At each tap through which distribution systems and rural and pipe line customers receive gas, there is installed a pressure regulator which reduces the pressure of the gas from that in the pipe line to 8 or 10 pounds for city distribution and some pipe line customers, and as low as 8 or 10 ounces for other pipe line and rural customers. ”

“ These obstructions are now removed by boring tools forced through the pipe by the hydrostatic pressure. The Superintendent of the Halifax (N. S.) Water-Works records the cleansing of a 12-inch main, 32,000 feet long, in three-fourths of an hour. The preservation of cast-iron pipes, and the prevention of these concretions, are now accomplished by carefully dipping the pipe, previously [129] heated to a temperature of 300 degrees, in a bath of distilled coal tar, mixed, to a proper consistency, with linseed oil, or an oil of the tar. ”

“ As already mentioned, the total oil transported to-day by the American pipe-line system exceeds half a million barrels daily. The lines themselves—all laid, of course, below ground—are so unobtrusive and do their work so quietly and unseen, that they attract no attention, and yet they are vastly important to not only the business of the States, but to those myriads of consumers abroad. ”

“ An account of the pipe-line system in the New York Sun, of December 14, 1887, describing the operations of the great pumps that force the oil through the pipes, says: "Every time the piston of the engine passes forward and back a barrel of oil is sent seaward. A barrel of oil is forced on its way every seven seconds of every hour of the twenty-four. Every pulsation of the gigantic pumps that are throbbing ceaselessly day and night is known and numbered at headquarters in New York at the close of each day's business." ”

“ Pipe lines that carry oil and gas, waterways that float an acreage of coal barges, four track rails worn bright with weighty ore cars, wires surcharged with a ruthless voltage or delicately sensitive to speech and codes, bind here a district of vast natural resources into one organic whole. ”

“ The direct system, commonly called the Holly Plan, does away with reservoir and stand pipe, and delivers the water directly into the mains under a pressure usually fifty pounds per square inch for domestic use, which is increased to one hundred pounds when fires occur. In the Holly Plan, a reserve power is used for fire purposes, besides mechanical device for regulating and controlling the variable pressure.
In either the stand pipe or direct system, a reserve power should be provided equal to the largest daily consumption. ”