Britain: An official handbook > 1956

BRITAIN: AN OFFICIAL HANDBOOK
172
In 1948 the Board established a central research organization at Stoke Orchard,
near Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, to provide facilities for fundamental research in
the coalmining industry, as distinct from the day-to-day scientific control exercised
by the divisional and area scientific organization. A second central research organiza¬
tion for the investigation of underground problems was formed in 1952 by the
Board at Isleworth, Middlesex, and a Central Engineering Establishment is being
built near Bretby in Derbyshire for developing new machines and equipment.
The Board also subscribes to a number of autonomous research associations in
receipt of grants from the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR,
see p. 375), including the British Coal Utilization Research Association, the British
Coke Research Association and the Coal Tar Research Association. In addition
much of the work of other bodies, such as the Safety in Mines Research Establish¬
ment of the Ministry of Fuel and Power and the Fuel Research Station of DSIR,
is closely related to the Board’s problems.
PETROLEUM
The petroleum industry in Britain dates back to 1850, when Dr. James Young, a
Glasgow chemist, succeeded in obtaining lamp oil and lubricants from natural
mineral oil occurring in the Derbyshire coal measures. The Scottish shale deposits,
yielding similar products, were first worked in 1858.
Indigenous Production
Sources of crude oil within Britain (including shale oil) supply altogether less
than one per cent of total United Kingdom requirements, the remainder being
imported from overseas.
Current output of shale oil is drawn from 11 shale mines and two opencast
quarries, retorted in four crude oil works, and the crude products are refined in a
central refinery at Pumpherston, near Edinburgh. Output of shale reached a peak
of 3-4 million tons in 1913, but the cost of the processes and other economic diffi¬
culties led to a reduction of output. This at present averages 1 -4 million tons a year,
yielding in 1954 some 99,600 tons of crude shale oil. From the latter some 78,800
tons of refined products were obtained. In 1954 some 108,200 tons of motor and
aviation spirit were obtained from coal by hydrogenation, and 198,000 tons of
refined benzole from coke ovens and gas works. Prospecting for crude petroleum
has so far led to the establishment of two oilfields in Nottinghamshire (small
amounts of oil were found in further borings at Plungar in Leicestershire in 1953),
one in Lancashire and one very small field in Scotland. Production of crude oil in
1954 was 59,100 tons.
International Trade
British and British-Dutch oil companies have been responsible for developing
the oil resources of many countries to mutual advantage, especially in the Middle
East, Far East and Caribbean areas.
Today they produce one-third of all oil entering into international trade, with a
tanker fleet (part-owned by them and part on charter) amounting to nearly one-
third of the world’s tanker tonnage. (United Kingdom registered tanker tonnage is
nearly one-fifth of the world’s total.)
Consumption
Consumption of petroleum products in the United Kingdom has risen from
almost one million tons in 1900 (mostly kerosene for lamps, and lubricants) to over
21 million tons in 1954 (predominantly gas, diesel and fuel oils and motor spirit).