66 / Chapter 3
Petroleum is a Latin word meaning “rock” and “oil,” and ancient
peoples found various uses for the sticky substance that oozed out
in natural seepages. The story of Noah’s Ark mentions that he water-
proofed the vessel using “pitch,” or very thick petroleum that is
essentially natural asphalt. For much of history, people used petro-
leum only rarely as fuel but more often as a medicinal substance,
particularly for topical application to treat skin diseases. Coal pro-
vided the fuel for the Industrial Revolution, and our needs for
energy have increased steadily since then. In the mid-1800s, inno-
vations in fuel lamps drove the demand for lamp oils. In response,
geologists produced the fi rst kerosene, which is a colorless liquid
fuel distilled from petroleum.^18 Its popularity inspired the drilling
of wells to bring oil to the surface. The ensuing search for more oil
led to an international industry.
What comes out of the ground is crude oil. Its chemical struc-
ture consists of hydrocarbon chains that can be separated through
distillation. The resulting products include gasoline, jet and diesel
fuel, liquid petroleum gas, kerosene, and several fuel oils. The addi-
tion of additives can produce asphalt, lubricants (such as motor oil),
waxes, sulfuric acid, and olefi ns (which become plastics of various
sorts). For crude oil to be turned into more useful products, it must
move from wells to refi neries. Initially, refi neries were located close
to oil fi elds. As refi ning became more sophisticated, issues of safety
and profi tability led oil companies to locate their refi neries closer to
markets. The crude oil was moved through pipelines and, for lon-
ger distances, shipped in barrels. The fi rst tanker ship, the Glückauf,
carried oil in bulk from the United States to Europe in 1886. The
innovation dramatically reduced the cost of transporting oil. Today,
thousands of tanker ships currently ply the seas.^19
Oil tankers vary widely in capacity, but the trend has been
toward ever-larger ships. Two factors prompted the tanker indus-
try to build larger vessels and to enlarge or “jumboize” many ships
within the existing fl eet: the western world’s increasing appetite
for oil and the closures of the Suez Canal from 1956 to 1957 and
from 1967 to 1975. The canal has had a vital role in the transporta-