INDUSTRY
Gulf Dedicates N e w Labs Company officially opens new automotive, production research, and nuclear labs at Harmarville A N
OIL COMPANY'S STRENGTH
often
lies in its crude oil reserves. Yet, even with today's production methods, only about 5 0 % of t h e oil underground can be recovered. But with new and improved methods—such as "in situ combustion"—it is conceivable that recoverable crude oil figures could be doubled, said William K. Whiteford, president of Gulf Oil, at t h e dedication of three new labs last week. The new buildings are located at the company's research center in Harmarville, near Pittsburgh, Pa. These new units represent a multimillion investment for Gulf. They are: • William Larimer Mellon production research lab, where new oil drilling and production methods will be studied. • A n d r e w William Mellon nuclear science lab, where Gulf researchers will study nuclear energy possibilities in the petroleum industry. • Richard Beatty Mellon automotive products lab, called one of the world's most advanced centers for fuel and lubricant testing. • Production Research. The production research lab is four stories high and houses 95 labs and offices. Work scheduled may find ways to reduce drilling costs and improve yields from oil reservoirs. Included will be ways to improve primary recovery as well as better water and gas injection techniques to improve secondary recovery. Being looked at, too, is a tertiary recovery method, "in situ combustion." This is a technique for setting afire a small part of t h e oil underground; the gases formed drive t h e oil out of the ground. T h e only things left behind are burned out rocks and sand. Another research program at the production lab is devoted to "fracturing." In this method, fissures are opened by hydraulic pressure in oil field rock to speed u p oil flow to the well. Besides the main production research lab, t h e company has also erected a supplemental building. This facility has an 80-foot oil derrick where field operations with heavy equipment can b e duplicated. • Nuclear Studies. T h e nuclear science lab will undertake projects ranging from oil recovery via atomic methods to improved refining using nuclear
techniques. Principle lab unit is a 3 m.e.v. Van de Graaff particle accelerator. It is claimed the most versatile radiation source of its type in private industry and the most powerful tool for producing electrons, protons, neutrons, and x-rays for research. Nuclear research has been used at Gulf for several years. But, the new building, with its specialized equipment, will allow the company to expand its nuclear work to every phase of petroleum operations. Much promise is held now for favorable results from nuclear studies into crude oil discovery and recovery. Included here is a "nuclear well logging" program in which oil field rocks are bombarded from the bore hole with gamma rays a n d / o r neutrons to chart composition and fluid contents. Data obtained may locate oil that is otherwise undiscoverabie. Other nuclear projects may lead to improved refining. Catalyst irradiation, for example, may prove a better way to stimulate chemical changes during refining, explains a Gulf scientist. And so might electron bombardment. This method may prove a substitute for heat to promote chemical reactions. Bombardment rearranges molecular structure in somewhat the same way as heat does in present-day petroleum processes. The difference is that radiation can raise the temperature of an individual molecule without raising t h e temperature of the mass being treated. Already Gulf scientists have used irradiation to produce hexamethylethane from refinery gases. This compound is a gasoline component and rates 130 octane. Costs, however, prohibit its use now, but making it via irradiation raises hopes for breakthroughs in the future. • Automotive Research. T h e automotive lab will b e used to test today's and future gasolines and motor oils. The building has 20 test cells. Each cell has one or two recent or advanced auto engines in which Gulf scientists can test products under a variety of operating conditions. Included in the auto lab is a cold room which can handle vehicles as large as a transcontinental bus. Vehicle, as well as fuel and lube, performance can be studied under weather conditions which can be varied from tropic heat to —70° F . Even wind effects can be simulated.
Doors in the roof of t h e production research lab open t o reveal the 80-foot rig for drilling experiments. Below: Samples are rotated beneath beam of 3 m.e.v. Van de Graaff
"Indoor turnpike" in automotive products lab tests vehicles such as this Scenicruiser u n d e r many conditions JUNE
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