00:00:00.000 we used to think that in the future we'd 00:00:01.85000:00:01.860 all be zooming around in flying cars 00:00:04.16000:00:04.170 that run on flowers and smiles well this 00:00:07.30900:00:07.319 is the future and oil is still the 00:00:09.77000:00:09.780 lifeblood of the modern world the 00:00:12.82000:00:12.830 world's roads are packed with 800 00:00:15.49900:00:15.509 million greedy vehicles guzzling their 00:00:17.87000:00:17.880 way through 7 billion liters of petrol 00:00:20.57000:00:20.580 keeping the fuel lines flowing safely 00:00:23.45000:00:23.460 with this flammable liquid demands a 00:00:25.67000:00:25.680 potent mix of engineering brilliance 00:00:27.83000:00:27.840 chemical wizardry and mucky manual labor 00:00:31.42000:00:31.430 so how do they do it Texas USA from the 00:00:45.74000:00:45.750 look of this hot barren windswept 00:00:48.26000:00:48.270 landscape you'd be forgiven for assuming 00:00:50.47900:00:50.489 this area must be a rural backwater but 00:00:56.24000:00:56.250 in fact this is one of the richest spots 00:00:58.84900:00:58.859 in the world because Texas is home to 00:01:02.27000:01:02.280 the American oil industry 00:01:07.61000:01:07.620 [Music] 00:01:10.88000:01:10.890 they've been drilling for oil here since 00:01:13.93000:01:13.940 1894 00:01:15.77000:01:15.780 but it wasn't until 1901 that the oil 00:01:18.98000:01:18.990 boom really took off when at a stroke 00:01:21.95000:01:21.960 the Lukas gusher tripled US oil 00:01:24.89000:01:24.900 production since then almost sixty 00:01:29.06000:01:29.070 billion barrels have been pumped out 00:01:31.31000:01:31.320 from the Texan soil and if the oil 00:01:34.04000:01:34.050 companies have got their sums right 00:01:35.81000:01:35.820 there are reserves of another ten 00:01:37.94000:01:37.950 billion barrels or so still to be 00:01:40.34000:01:40.350 extracted the sticky smelly black liquid 00:01:45.64900:01:45.659 they're after is crude oil which is the 00:01:48.52900:01:48.539 raw material needed for making petrol it 00:01:52.76000:01:52.770 was formed from the remains of tiny sea 00:01:54.91900:01:54.929 plants and animals during the Permian 00:01:56.54000:01:56.550 period thanks to the action of heat and 00:01:59.18000:01:59.190 pressure 250 million years later they've 00:02:02.41900:02:02.429 been transformed into one of the world's 00:02:04.52000:02:04.530 most vital energy sources this is black 00:02:08.18000:02:08.190 gold Texas tea the best there is it 00:02:11.42000:02:11.430 smells like rotten eggs but it also 00:02:13.22000:02:13.230 smells like money 00:02:17.17000:02:17.180 on this hot sticky Texas morning the 00:02:21.02000:02:21.030 crew of Derek Riggs 62 are setting to 00:02:23.83900:02:23.849 work sinking and nuwell every month more 00:02:28.22000:02:28.230 than a thousand new wells are drilled 00:02:30.22900:02:30.239 here in Texas and together they pump out 00:02:32.99000:02:33.000 over 900,000 barrels of crude every day 00:02:38.44000:02:38.450 to keep that all flowing producers like 00:02:41.53900:02:41.549 Occidental Petroleum will sink more than 00:02:43.91000:02:43.920 a hundred wells a year so for guys like 00:02:48.25900:02:48.269 Rick Baker this hot noisy back-breaking 00:02:50.90000:02:50.910 work is very much just another day at 00:02:53.33000:02:53.340 the office 00:03:06.02000:03:06.030 but the team faced an arduous task 00:03:08.76000:03:08.770 getting the oil out in this area known 00:03:13.38000:03:13.390 as the Permian Basin the crude lies up 00:03:16.26000:03:16.270 to two miles down trapped in rocks over 00:03:18.89000:03:18.900 250 million years old to reach it they 00:03:25.44000:03:25.450 use the Derrick's huge motors to grind a 00:03:28.02000:03:28.030 diamond-tipped 00:03:29.04000:03:29.050 drill bit deep into the earth but all 00:03:33.06000:03:33.070 the friction creates huge amounts of 00:03:35.43000:03:35.440 heat so high-pressure drilling fluid is 00:03:38.13000:03:38.140 pumped down a pipe to cool the cutting 00:03:40.56000:03:40.570 head the fluid then carries the cuttings 00:03:44.28000:03:44.290 back to the surface where they're left 00:03:45.93000:03:45.940 to settle out in mud pits it's noisy 00:03:50.25000:03:50.260 dangerous work Rick needs to keep the 00:03:54.12000:03:54.130 pressure on the drill bit just right too 00:03:56.52000:03:56.530 little and it won't cut too much and it 00:03:58.95000:03:58.960 will fracture what's more he must 00:04:03.21000:04:03.220 constantly be on guard for the threat of 00:04:05.40000:04:05.410 gas releases which could cause 00:04:07.29000:04:07.300 catastrophic explosions 00:04:17.48000:04:17.490 as they drill the team need to regularly 00:04:21.69000:04:21.700 attach new nine meter lengths of 00:04:23.67000:04:23.680 drilling pipe using an enormous five ton 00:04:26.49000:04:26.500 automated wrench called an iron 00:04:28.65000:04:28.660 roughneck 00:04:34.64000:04:34.650 with the drill head burrowing at around 00:04:36.86000:04:36.870 five meters an hour this arduous task 00:04:39.62000:04:39.630 must be repeated every couple of hours 00:04:41.62000:04:41.630 24 hours a day 00:04:43.46000:04:43.470 the drilling only intermittently halted 00:04:46.07000:04:46.080 to line the well 00:04:50.96000:04:50.970 eventually if they're lucky they strike 00:04:54.27000:04:54.280 oil initially the pressure of the 00:04:59.31000:04:59.320 trapped oil forces it through small 00:05:01.11000:05:01.120 holes in the finished pipe and up to the 00:05:03.51000:05:03.520 surface but this natural pressure 00:05:06.84000:05:06.850 doesn't last forever 00:05:08.43000:05:08.440 so to keep the crude flowing they use 00:05:11.16000:05:11.170 one of these this is called a pumping 00:05:15.78000:05:15.790 jack or knotting donkey the circular 00:05:19.80000:05:19.810 motion of the powered flywheel is 00:05:21.42000:05:21.430 converted into vertical motion and like 00:05:24.03000:05:24.040 an enormous metal syringe it sucks the 00:05:26.40000:05:26.410 oil to the surface dotted across the 00:05:32.19000:05:32.200 empty Plains these quietly insistent 00:05:34.77000:05:34.780 nodding donkeys harvest the black gold 00:05:37.47000:05:37.480 of Texas 00:05:40.60000:05:40.610 but these oil fields are many miles from 00:05:43.48000:05:43.490 where the crude oil is needed 00:05:46.36000:05:46.370 so a series of pumps feed it to a 00:05:48.87900:05:48.889 pipeline and off on a 500-mile journey 00:05:51.55000:05:51.560 to the other side of the state this 00:06:00.79000:06:00.800 extraordinary citadel of gleaming silver 00:06:03.79000:06:03.800 pipe work is Baytown less than 30 miles 00:06:08.92000:06:08.930 from Houston it looks like something out 00:06:11.23000:06:11.240 of Blade Runner and is the single 00:06:13.24000:06:13.250 largest oil refinery in the whole of the 00:06:15.93900:06:15.949 u.s. 00:06:19.11000:06:19.120 with over 5,000 miles of metal piping 00:06:22.71000:06:22.720 spread across 2,400 acres this place can 00:06:26.79000:06:26.800 refine 560 thousand barrels of crude oil 00:06:30.45000:06:30.460 every day not only does it get 00:06:34.95000:06:34.960 incredibly hot here the noise is so 00:06:37.23000:06:37.240 deafening it's 4,000 strong workforce 00:06:39.93000:06:39.940 get through over a million ear 00:06:42.03000:06:42.040 protectors every year this place is so 00:06:46.23000:06:46.240 huge as well as Texan crude oil it also 00:06:49.14000:06:49.150 sucks in supplies from all around the 00:06:51.62900:06:51.639 world to satisfy bay town's thirst vast 00:06:56.84000:06:56.850 300 meter long tankers arrive at the 00:06:59.70000:06:59.710 specially constructed docks 00:07:03.32000:07:03.33000:07:07.07000:07:07.080 over 20 of these massive vessels arrive 00:07:09.74000:07:09.750 every month each one delivering up to 3 00:07:12.40900:07:12.419 million barrels from their huge holds as 00:07:14.96000:07:14.970 much oil as everywhere in Texas produces 00:07:18.05000:07:18.060 in 3 and a half days 00:07:22.65900:07:22.669 the thing about crude oil is its crude 00:07:26.02900:07:26.039 even if you could get that stuff into 00:07:28.36900:07:28.379 your petrol tank and somehow set fire to 00:07:30.08000:07:30.090 it it wouldn't provide the instant 00:07:32.14900:07:32.159 explosive power that internal combustion 00:07:34.82000:07:34.830 craves to be honest you'd be better off 00:07:37.01000:07:37.020 coating your driveway with it than 00:07:38.89900:07:38.909 driving with it to become usable fuel it 00:07:42.14000:07:42.150 has to be refined so at the heart of the 00:07:46.49000:07:46.500 refinery lies the laboratory headed by 00:07:49.10000:07:49.110 Joyce bussy 00:07:51.73000:07:51.740 it's up to Joyce's lab to supervise the 00:07:55.16000:07:55.170 process of turning the crude oil into 00:07:57.53000:07:57.540 usable products 00:07:58.85000:07:58.86000:08:02.50000:08:02.510 crude oil in the state is not very 00:08:05.47000:08:05.480 useful at all if you put this in your 00:08:08.05000:08:08.060 tank you'd be sorry because it wouldn't 00:08:10.48000:08:10.490 go anywhere 00:08:13.00000:08:13.01000:08:14.70000:08:14.710 the trouble with crude oil is it 00:08:17.14000:08:17.150 contains a mix of hydrocarbons each of 00:08:20.20000:08:20.210 which has a different number of carbon 00:08:22.18000:08:22.190 atoms the hydrocarbons are different in 00:08:26.38000:08:26.390 weight the lightest is propane while the 00:08:29.59000:08:29.600 heaviest is used to make asphalt 00:08:32.73000:08:32.740 [Applause] 00:08:34.65000:08:34.660 extracting petrol from this mix is a 00:08:36.90900:08:36.919 formidable challenge and it requires one 00:08:39.34000:08:39.350 heck of a chemistry set to do it the 00:08:44.68000:08:44.690 most important part of the plant is this 00:08:48.54000:08:48.550 like a moonshine still as tall as a 00:08:51.58000:08:51.590 cathedral this is where the crude is 00:08:53.92000:08:53.930 separated heated to over 370 degrees 00:08:59.20000:08:59.210 Celsius it's pumped into the base of the 00:09:01.69000:09:01.700 tower and like steam from a kettle the 00:09:04.45000:09:04.460 vapor rises as it cools the molecules 00:09:09.73000:09:09.740 condense their heavy asphalt and tar at 00:09:12.49000:09:12.500 the bottom while lighter molecules 00:09:15.31000:09:15.320 including diesel jet fuel and petrol 00:09:17.65000:09:17.660 continue rising until they too condense 00:09:20.35000:09:20.360 and can be siphoned off 00:09:25.17000:09:25.180 but the trouble with producing all this 00:09:27.27000:09:27.280 fuel is they now have an ocean of 00:09:29.85000:09:29.860 potentially explosive liquid to deal 00:09:31.98000:09:31.990 with but of course it's this explosive 00:09:35.28000:09:35.290 quality that makes petrol so useful so 00:09:38.30000:09:38.310 to make sure it's as explosive as it 00:09:41.13000:09:41.140 should be it's up to workers like Derek 00:09:43.20000:09:43.210 Smalley to carefully take samples or 00:09:45.72000:09:45.730 analysis in the lab in all every 159 00:09:53.49000:09:53.500 litre barrel of crude produces 73 litres 00:09:56.91000:09:56.920 of petrol 35 litres of diesel around 20 00:10:01.41000:10:01.420 litres of jet fuel and heavy fuel oil 00:10:03.98000:10:03.990 almost 6 litres of propane and another 00:10:07.68000:10:07.690 34 liters of other products such as 00:10:10.44000:10:10.450 butane asphalt and sulfur every day this 00:10:16.71000:10:16.720 plant produces enough petrol to fuel a 00:10:19.26000:10:19.270 car on 717 round trips to the moon 00:10:23.45000:10:23.460 unless of course you drive a 4x4 in 00:10:26.28000:10:26.290 which case you may have to fill up 00:10:27.84000:10:27.850 halfway 00:10:30.28000:10:30.290 anyway Derrick delivers his samples to 00:10:33.32000:10:33.330 the lab for testing our lab does the 00:10:39.53000:10:39.540 final product check of our product that 00:10:41.63000:10:41.640 goes out of the refinery and if it 00:10:43.97000:10:43.980 doesn't meet our customers expectation 00:10:46.07000:10:46.080 it doesn't go out the gate the fuel is 00:10:50.12000:10:50.130 tested by feeding it to a petrol 00:10:52.31000:10:52.320 connoisseur and aging but robust NOC 00:10:55.51900:10:55.529 testing engine engine knocking happens 00:11:01.85000:11:01.860 when fuels spontaneously ignites as it's 00:11:04.79000:11:04.800 being compressed in the engine cylinder 00:11:06.92000:11:06.930 the reason for this premature ignition 00:11:09.11000:11:09.120 is there's too much heptane and not 00:11:11.96000:11:11.970 enough octane in the mix 00:11:17.23000:11:17.240 by increasing the percentage of octane 00:11:19.92900:11:19.939 the mix can be improved until the 00:11:22.23900:11:22.249 knocking stops the lab can then feed 00:11:26.76900:11:26.779 their data back into the main refinery 00:11:28.90000:11:28.910 to correct any mixing errors and ensure 00:11:31.54000:11:31.550 a perfect blend with the refineries work 00:11:36.51900:11:36.529 done some of her half a million valves 00:11:39.34000:11:39.350 are opened and the petrol flows through 00:11:41.76900:11:41.779 underground pipelines which feed it to 00:11:44.19900:11:44.209 various local terminals like this one in 00:11:46.98900:11:46.999 South Houston from here it's transferred 00:11:51.00900:11:51.019 to huge tankers for delivery by drivers 00:11:53.79900:11:53.809 like Bradley Unruh 00:11:55.90000:11:55.91000:11:59.97000:11:59.980 but filling up a tanker is way more 00:12:02.73000:12:02.740 dangerous than simply filling up your 00:12:04.65000:12:04.660 car it can't be dangerous but just made 00:12:07.80000:12:07.810 a good cautious alert driver really 00:12:09.36000:12:09.370 really really helped the hundreds of 00:12:12.42000:12:12.430 liters of volatile cargo mean it's 00:12:14.55000:12:14.560 essential Bradley follows stringent 00:12:16.62000:12:16.630 safety procedures a mistake while 00:12:20.19000:12:20.200 loading or unloading the tank could 00:12:22.05000:12:22.060 result in a serious explosion so he 00:12:24.63000:12:24.640 takes no chances the metal bodywork can 00:12:30.93000:12:30.940 generate sparks from static electricity 00:12:33.39000:12:33.400 so first a cord is attached to ground 00:12:36.03000:12:36.040 the trailer and also activate the 00:12:38.07000:12:38.080 overfill protection probes at the top of 00:12:40.44000:12:40.450 each compartment 00:12:44.44000:12:44.45000:12:45.87000:12:45.880 to cope with the threat of highly 00:12:48.00000:12:48.010 flammable vapors escaping a second pipe 00:12:50.52000:12:50.530 known as the vapor recovery pipe siphons 00:12:53.31000:12:53.320 off any leaks which might otherwise 00:12:54.99000:12:55.000 escape into the atmosphere only once 00:12:59.34000:12:59.350 these are in place can Bradley connect 00:13:01.41000:13:01.420 the fuel lines and begin to pump 00:13:05.09000:13:05.100 everyday over 4 million litres of petrol 00:13:08.46000:13:08.470 are safely transported to local gas 00:13:10.80000:13:10.810 stations from this terminal alone 00:13:17.42900:13:17.439 pumped into the service stations huge 00:13:20.19900:13:20.209 reservoir the petrol is finally ready 00:13:22.90000:13:22.910 for use 00:13:24.35000:13:24.36000:13:26.44000:13:26.450 so you can at least find solace in the 00:13:29.50000:13:29.510 extraordinary work it's taken to keep 00:13:31.69000:13:31.700 your wheels turning and next time you 00:13:34.12000:13:34.130 fill up your car and grin as' and the 00:13:36.67000:13:36.680 cost of your fuel 00:13:37.89000:13:37.90000:13:41.01000:13:41.020 but until your futuristic flower powered 00:13:44.17000:13:44.180 flying car comes along you just have to 00:13:46.21000:13:46.220 grin and bear it coming up 00:13:48.22000:13:48.230
Office location
Engineering company LOTUS®
Russia, Ekaterinburg, Lunacharskogo street, 240/12