TREASURE FROM THE SEA 



This metallic lead, however, tended to build up on valves and exhaust 

 parts of the engine and a detergent was required to be mixed with 

 the lead for removal purposes. The first solvent used was a com- 

 pound of iodine, but it was soon apparent that iodine could not be 

 produced in the required quantities. It was found, however, that 

 bromine was equally effective in preventing lead build up. Anti- 

 knock gasoline was of far reaching importance and even with brine 

 well production of bromine, it became apparent that the demand 

 would exceed maximum production. From the inexhaustible sea 

 came the answer, for bromine exists in solution at the rate of 68 

 pounds per million pounds of sea water. 



The procedure for extracting bromine from sea water is, theo- 

 retically, not difficult. Sea water is treated with sulphuric acid and 

 then chlorine is passed into it. The bromine is then free in solution, 

 and air is blown through the sea water carrying off the bromine 

 as vapor. This vapor is then absorbed by an alkaline solution, and 

 from this bromine can be recovered as required. 



Approximately half of the bromine currently used in the United 

 States comes from the sea. Twenty cubic feet of sea water is pro- 

 cessed to obtain the bromine required for each gallon of leaded gaso- 

 line. To give some idea of the ability of the inexhaustible sea as 

 a source for bromine — if all the bromine now used in the United 

 States each year for gasoline came from the sea, one cubic mile of 

 sea water would last two years. 



SULPHUR. — Sulphur deposits are basically salt pillars that 

 were thrust upwards from ancient sedimentary beds. As oxygen 

 and other elements were expanded the sulphur content remained. 

 In the more productive deposits, the domes are capped with lime- 

 stone, tending to seal them off. These sulphur deposits, however, 

 are rare, with less than ten percent of the 250 salt domes so far 

 discovered in the United States, suitable for commercial recovery. 

 Of the twenty successfully mined domes, eight are now exhausted. 

 And, as virtually all known salt domes within the proximity of 

 Texas and Louisiana have been examined for sulphur it is improb- 

 able that many, if any, new profitable sources ashore will be found. 

 Consequently, our need to again turn to the sea for supply, becomes 

 more apparent. 



As a result of the constant search for new mineral reserves, 

 in June 1960 the world's first offshore sulphur mine began operation. 

 Known as the Grande Isle Project, it is located in approximately 

 43 feet of water and seven miles off the coast of Louisiana. The 

 platform is the largest steel structure to ever be erected in the 

 ocean. This sulphur deposit is the third largest known in the United 

 States, varying from 220 to 425 feet in thickness and covering several 

 hundred acres. 



The operation of a sulphur well whether drilled at sea or ashore 

 is basically the same. That is, hot water is pumped down to melt 

 the sulphur, which is then aerated with compressed air and forced 

 to the surface. 



At the above offshore site, wells are drilled directionally i.e., 

 laterally from the surface. Using this process, it is possible to drill 

 and operate over 100 wells from the one platform. 



Coupled with a mining venture of this type is the hazard of 

 "subsidence". The removal of the sulphur weakens the rock structure 

 sufficiently to cause collapse. As the upper sediments offer but 

 Httle resistance, the ocean bottom subsides. Such will eventually 

 be the case at the Grande Isle wells. 



Sulphur was first commercially produced in Sicily during the 

 fifteenth century. But, the world did not begin its quest for the 

 product until 1735, when a process was developed to manufacture 

 sulphuric acid. Four-fifths of all sulphur now mined is utilized for 

 the manufacture of sulphuric acid. Today, this indispensable item 

 is used in the production of such items as drugs, detergents, rubber, 

 paper, petroleum and many others. 



OIL. — The earliest use of oil is rather obscure, but it is known 

 that King Nebuchadnezzar used asphalt to surface the streets and 

 build the walls of ancient Babylon. The Assyrians and Persians 

 also used asphalt as a building material and ancient Egyptians 

 utilized pitch in the coating of mummies. 



When the Jesuit missionaries came to North America they 

 found Indians using oil, scooped up from surface pools, as a fuel and 

 also as a medicine. The famed scout and frontiersman Kit Carson 

 collected oil from seepage pools in Wyoming and sold it as axle 

 grease, to pioneers. 



Although oil was produced in Romania and Canada in 1857, it is 

 usually agreed that the beginning of the industry on a large scale 

 was in 1859 when Edwin L. Drake drilled his famous well near Titus- 

 ville, Pennsylvania. Commercial production of oil then rapidly spread 

 throughout the world. 



The modern quest for oil is reminiscent of the old gold rushes, 

 with industry looking for "black gold" under the sea instead of 

 "yellow gold'' in the California hills. 



With the increasing lack of new oil prospects ashore, industry 

 began to look to the offshore tidelands as a source, and on 6 October 

 1937 the first offshore oil well in the Gulf of Mexico was "spudded 

 in". This well is located approximately a mile off the coast of 

 Cameron, Louisiana and gauged some 221/2 barrels an hour, starting 

 the ever growing "forest" of platforms and derricks now located 

 in the Gulf of Mexico. After the completion of this first well, the 

 platform was enlarged and ten more directional producers were 

 drilled. These eleven wells are still producing today, having given 

 a yield of over four million barrels of oil. 



Increasingly within the reach of modern floating drilling equip- 

 ment, great reserves of petroleum hydrocarbons exist in the 

 submerged lands of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. 

 Along the islands stretching from Florida to Trinidad are subsea 

 pinnacles and shelves that may very well hold immense prospects. 

 Recently 21 salt domes were identified in the deepest part of the 

 Gulf. 



Within the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea bounded by 

 the 100-fathom curve, are approximately 300 million acres. Of this 

 vast area, only about 35 million acres off the coast of Texas and 

 Louisiana have been more than sparsely explored. Hence, one of 

 the "world's largest deep hunting grounds." 



As a result of offshore deposits, the largest oil boom ever is 

 taking place off the coast of Louisiana, with approximately 90 drill- 

 ing rigs in operation and at a daily drilling expenditure of over 

 a million dollars. 



^If-^i 



r-! 



^ 4 -.=,.- ~., -,.». 



Bottom supported drilling rig. Courtesy Union Oil Co. of Caii/ornia. 



The Gulf of Mexico has been called the proving ground for off- 

 shore drilling rigs, and the year 1963 saw the development of a new 

 trend in such rigs. This was the change from bottom supported 

 units to floating drilling units. It will be years before floating units 

 replace bottom supported units, but the trend has started and most 

 all new construction is directed toward the "floaters." 



11 



