INCREASING THE EXTRACTION AND PRODUCTION OF CRUDE OIL IN POLAND

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000700230167-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 12, 2011
• Sequence Number: 167
• Publication Date: June 14, 1955
• Content Type: REPORT

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STAT
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STAT
INCREASING TFiE EXTRACTION AND PROCESSING OF CRUDE OIL IN POLAND
ycie Oospodarcze
Warsaw, 5 Dec 5]
Poland is surrounded on the east, west, and south by countries that have
significant deposits of crude oil; thus, there is every possibility that petro-
leum deposits could be discovered in Poland to cover the requirements of the
Polish national economy.
The Polish petroleum industry is engaged in the extraction and processing
of crude oil and natural gas. Despite the fact that the petroleum industry has
a 100-year tradition, it has not been able significantly to increase crude-oil
extraction during the last decade. The reason for this is the lack of discov-
ered and contoured (okonturowanych) petroleum deposits in which a sufficient
number of exploitable wells could be drilled to assure a continuing increase
in petroleum extraction.
Up to now, geological and exploratory work has been concentrated chiefly in
the Carpathian regions. Work was centered on a number of objectives, including
the discovery of deposits lying at considerable depths, that is, below the
shallow horizons currently exploited. It was decided that Carpathian structures
are relatively small, and even in case of positive results, they would not assure
adequately large increases of petroleum reserves. Several new petroleum fields
discovered there have contributed only ar insignificant Increase to the extrac-
tion of crude oil during the last 10 years.
Geological and exploratory work should be far enough in advance of ex-
ploitation to assure enough new producing boreholes each year to meet the plan-
ned increase in extraction. Unfortunately, the Polish petroleum industry has
not yet reached this point; in fact, it is in arrears. The elimination of the
backlog requires time and significant expenditures.
Results of the explorations in the Carpathian Mountains do not indicate
the discovery of large structures of rich deposits which could assure a rapid
and significant increase in crude-oil extraction. Hence, deposits should be
sought in those areas where there are geological analogies with deposits of
neighboring countries, it can be confirmed that such areas of large structures
exist in Poland. Thus, geological and exploratory work should be carried out
in areas beyond the Carpathians, in the so-called Polish Lowland (Niz Polski),
where a number of regions have been established capable of containing crude-
oil deposits. Geophysical techniques and shallow structural drillings should
first be carried out on these regions to determine points for deep exploratory
drilling.
During the last 10 years, the Polish petroleum industry has made great
progress on exploratory and exploitable drillings. In prewar Poland, the
principal system of drilling was the percussion-drilling system. Ten years
ago, the use of the modern rotary-drilling system amounted to only a small
share in total drilling, whereas in 1953, it was 66 percent.
With the rotary-drilling system, boreholes can be drilled to a depth of
3,000 meters, whereas with the percussion-drilling system, drilling can be
made only to a depth of 1,500 meters. The rotary-drilling system has opened
new vistas for the discovery of deposits located at greater depths.
The rotary system helped to increase the drilling speed and to decrease
the expenditures (rozchod) of steel pipes placed in boreho]es to stregthen
walls. These factors have a great influence on the reduction of drilling
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costs, which is of prime interest to the petroleum industry. An
the components of real cosh show that there are still notable shortcomingsanalysis,of
and that their elimination will further decrease the drilling costs. Of
great concern here is the reduction of damages (awaryjnosc), which, in turn,
depends on the conscientiousness and
alifi
qu
cation of drilling crews, on the
quality of drilling equipment and tools, and on the observance of technological
discipline. Other factors that help to reduce real costs of drillings are
improved work organization, use of so-called small mechanization to shorten
the time necessary for auxiliary activities, elimination of delays in receiving
supplies of materials and tools, and reduction of repair time.
During the last 10 years, great achievements have been made in supplying
the petroleum industry with drilling equipment, materials, and tools. In the
first few years after Poland gained its independence, the petroleum industry
had to use antiquated percussion-drilling equipment. Furthermore, there was
a shortage of drilling materials and tools. Then the USSR rendered aid by
supplying modern rotary-drilling equipment for shallow and deep drillings.
Simultaneously, petroleum workers began to plan expansion of plants to supply
the petroleum industry with drilling, extractive, and processing equipment.
Today, Poland has an important engineering industry that produces equipment
and tools, so that imports are considerably reduced. The goal and ambition
of the Polish machine and equipment building industry is to satisfy fully
the requirements of the Polish petroleum industry.
In the total expenditures for crude-oil explorations, the largest outlays
have been assigned to structural and exploratory drillings. It is possible to
reduce the total outlays without decreasing the effect of exploratory work by
using exploratory geophysical methods such as gravimetry and seismology. These
methods are inexpensive and eliminate a considerable number of drillings, since
they permit closer indexes for correct location of boreholes. These methods
should be widely expanded in Poland, despite the fact that geophysical equip-
ment must be imported. This, however, presents no problem because the geo-
physical equipment is produced in the USSR.
In Poland, crude oil is extracted chiefly with deep-well pumps. Because
a large number of low-productivity oil wells is exploited, the cost of extract-
ing, one ton of crude oil is relativel;, high. It is true, however, that the so-
called group drives are used, that is, one motor drives several pumps, and only
pumps at considerable distance from each other have individual drives. But
the low productivity of certain wells unfavorably influences the average real
cost of extraction.
Another factor contributing to the high cost of extraction is the wide
use of secondary recovery methods and various techniques used to revive the
wells. The proven and exploited deposits in Poland are not rich deposits.
Moreover, crude oil has been extracted from these deposits for many years;
thus the flow of the crude oil from the deposit to the well is weak and re-
quires the use of various techniques to maintain or to revive it.
The technique of repressurizing the deposits is widely used in the Polish
petroleum fields, with gas or air being forced into the crude-oil deposit by
adjusting the borehole for this purpose. Gas forced into the deposit forces
the crude oil from porous sandstone and drives it toward the well.
In addition, periodic techniques are used to facilitate the flow of crude
oil to the well by loosening or cleaning the small channels (kanaliki) through
which crude oil flows. These periodic techniques include torpedoeing, acidizing,
and heating of wells.
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Constant and conscientious care of wells is a very important factor in
retarding the natural drop in crude-oil production. It is not sufficient
to take measurements on the flow of crude oil and to establish the technology
of crude-oil extraction from wells after their opening. Parameters (parametry)
change with the passing of time, and optimum extraction conditions established
for one day may completely change for another day. Therefore, measurements of
these parameters for respective wells should be made periodically so that new
operation standards for extractive equipment can be established. In the Polish
petroleum industry there is still much to be done in this field, a fact that
workers employed in extracting crude oil should remember.
When speaking about the petroleum industry, natural gas extraction should
not be overlooked. Natural gas is not only a valuable fuel, used mainly for
precision heating, but it also is a valuable chemical raw material. Its heat
value is twice that of gas produced from coal.
During the last 10 years, gas extraction in Poland has increased many
times and at present it is an important branch of the industry. In calorific
value, extracted natural gas surpasses crude oil extraction in Poland. Through
an expanded network of gas mains, natural gas can be sent from its source toward
the west and north so that it reaches Slask and Warsaw; along the way, gas can
be supplied to important industrial plants, as well as cities and settlements.
Because gas flows from boreholes under pressure sufficient to send it consider-
able distances, costs of gas extraction and transportation by mains are very
low.
In Poland, prospects for the expansion of natural gas extraction are good;
in 1954 new rich deposits of natural gas were discovered, doubling the present
known geological reserves of this raw material.
There are many countries which either have no cnide oil, or have too little
in relation to their requirements. Nevertheless, these countries endeavor to
expand their refining industry, basing it completely or partially on imported
raw materials. Among the countries in this situation are, for example, Czecho-
slovakia and Poland.
The opinion is frequently encountered that if a country lacks raw materials,
the simplest method of supplying the country with petroleum products is ton import
the finished products. However, the appropriateness of expanding the refiing
industry in countries lacking raw materials is supported by the following eco-
nomic factors:
1. The economy of crude-oil processing near the petroleum-products markets.
2. Lower requirements of steel for storing raw material than finished
products.
3. Ease of adjusting to changeable market conditions.
4. Ease in planning imports of raw materials in contrast to the difficulty
in planning imports of full assortments of products.
In its early development, the refining industry produced a small assortme
of products. Under those conditions, transportation of the products to the place
of consumption was no problem; other factors, such as the availability of fuel
for the refining plants in the form of natural gas from petroleum wells, were
the decisive factors in locating refineries near the raw-material source. The
industry now produces hundreds of different kinds of products, and the problem
of transporting them is complicated by the diversity of packaging (opakowanie).
Types of packaging include tanks, iron and wooden barrels, metal drums, and
STAT
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glass bottles, which are generally returned to the producer when empty. Costs
of transporting products under such conditions are very high; therefore, the
appropriate thing to do is to shorten the distance between the producer and
consumer, even at the expense of increasing the distance of transporting raw
material from the source to the processing point.
Depending on the consumption of petroleum products, each country must
have a certain reserve of petroleum products so as to cover the market require-
ments regularly. From the viewpoint of steel consumption for construction of
storage tanks, it is much more economical to store raw materials than finished
petroleum products, Raw material can be stored in large tanks, whereas pet-
roleum products must be stored in large number of smaller tanks. To store 100,000
tons of raw material about (50 less tons of steel are needed than for the con-
struction of warehouses to store the same quantity of a full assortment of fin-
ished petroleum products.
By processing a designated kind of crude oil, different outputs of individ-
ual petroleum products can be obtained, within certain limits and providing the
proper processing equipment is on hand. Thus, by having a reserve of raw material,
the quantitative and qualitative production can be easily regulated to the needs
of the market.
As mentioned before, the refining industry produces hundreds of petroleum
products used by many branches of the national economy. Precise planning for
each of these products for the entire year, which is necessary for the conclu-
sion of import agreements, is a very difficult matter. On the other hand, a
properly supplied refining industry, for which only one or two kinds of raw
materials have to be imported, can most economically satisfy the requirements
of the country for the entire assortment of petroleum products.
Finally, the import of the raw material, rather than finished products,
brings considerable savings in foreign exchange, which is of prime importance
to Poland.
From the moment Poland gained its independence, the party and government
created the necessary conditions for a rapid reconstruction and expansion of
the crude-oil processing industry. After the reconstruction of refining plants,
which was completed during the Three-Year Plan, the expansion and modernization
of the refining industry was started under the Six-Year Plan. As a result, the
plan for the first 5 years of the Six-Year Plan was fulfilled in August 1954.
Compared with 1950, the indexes for 1954 are as follows (1950 equals 100):
Quantity of crude oil processed annually 233
Value of total production at base-year prices
277
No of workers in the industrial [refining?) group 127
Work productivity calculated at base-year prices
per worker
It is interesting to note that with the 133-percent increase in crude-oil
processing, employment increased only by 27 percent, which proves that a signif-
cant improvement has been made in work productivity and qualifications of the
workers. The construction of new processing equipment and the improvement in
operations of old equipment contributed greatly to the increase in work produc-
tivity. The faster increase in the index for the value of production over the
index for the quantity of crude oil processed proves that the quality of the
products has improved.
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Despite these great achievements, there are still important tasks facing
p
the lan of houul ldil dtto.a A further expansion and modernization of the refining
supply Of petroleum products for the national
planesp. and to a a maximum reduc in the
0 full i.nished products. Under such stconditions quanti
the possibility d assortment oex of imported
surpluses of certain products should be created. On the basis of exporting aid
and the steadily increasing level of technical and political consciousness of
all workers of the industry, there is every reason to believe that the re-
fining industry will fulfill its tasks.
The Polish extractive industry and the crude-oil processing industry have
all the requisites for a further expansion, even though significant difficulties
appear in certain sectors. This particularly pertains to the search for new
crude-oil deposits. Nevertheless, these difficulties will be overcome through
the help of the party and the government.
STAT
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