Journey. Report from Libya. Produced for Standard Oil Company, New Jersey. By Tangent Films, Inc. The movie opens with a view over the water at Tripoli, the capital city of Libya. The purpose of the movie is to show the progress of oil drilling and collaboration between American oil companies and the Libyan people. Historically the area of Libya was considered as three provinces (or states), Tripolitania in the northwest, Cyrenaica in the east, and Fezzan in the southwest. Tripoli has wide boulevards, palm trees and beautiful modern architecture 1:15. Downtown Tripoli, cars and horse and carriages share the road 1:35. Regio Tripolitana. Around the beginning of the 3rd century AD, it became known as the Regio Tripolitana, meaning “region of the three cities”, namely Oea (i.e., modern Tripoli), Sabratha and Leptis Magna. It was probably raised to the rank of a separate province by Septimius Severus, who was a native of Leptis Magna. Arch honoring Marcus Aurelius 1:50. The ruins of the two other modern cities in Libya stand as monuments to ancient Rome. The theater at Sabratha 2:10. Camels truck down the road carrying passengers 2:21. Large excavations in Libya uncovering Roman ruins 2:42. Aerial view of the desert 2:51. The Sahara Desert. Esso Standard Libya was the first company to find oil in Libya in 1958 in the Fezzan province 3:06. Dry holes from failed excavating attempts dot the landscape 3:25. Drilling rig in the Fezzan 3:36. Drills find “basement rock” meaning that there was no oil in the hole 3:47. Pneumatic tires under the rig 3:55. Oil has been found more than a mile deep in Zelten. The oil camp is moved from the Fezzan province to Zelten 4:12. Trucks move the large equipment 4:25. Airplanes and Land Rover cars scout for passable roots 4:45. The trip takes two weeks. Skilled Libyan drivers push the trucks across the desert to Zelten 5:13. Discovered in 1956, Zelten (Zelten 1) was Libya’s first major oil well, producing about 17,500 bbl/d. In 1959, its reserves were estimated at 2.5 billion barrels (400,000,000 m3) of 38° API oil, lying at 5,500-7,600 feet. Esso Standard began production of Zelten in 1961. The Zelten gas-lift system was installed during the period from 1969 to 1971 and represented one of the first uses of gas lift on a fieldwide basis to produce the high-volume wells typical of Middle East Oil fields. Zelten begins oil drilling 5:47. Libyan men are trained on the oil rigs 6:20. The Libyan men teach American oil workers how to survive in the heat of the Sahara 6:45. The crew pumps fast setting cement into the well to seal a hole 7:08. Pressure is restored. Oil is struck 7:22. 15,000 barrels a day. Libyan oil-well camp has potable water 7:50. The camp boss has a radiotelephone connected directly to the main office and other camps 8:20. Land Rover crosses what used to be in inland sea 8:52. Geologists look at different types of rock to locate oil 9:15. A plane takes off from the desert 9:25. Oil explorers encounter vast areas of land mines in the desert since World War II 10:00. Anti-tank mines are excavated 10:15. Aerial view of the seismic camp and test pattern 10:29. The truck rig digs a 20-foot hole in two minutes 10:55. Dynamite is placed into each hole of the test pattern 11:17. Geophones are laid out in the desert 11:32. The underground explosion is measured through the geophones 11:50. A geophone is a device converts ground movement (velocity) into voltage, which may be recorded at a recording station. The deviation of this measured voltage from the base line is called the seismic response and is analyzed for structure of the earth. It can help locate oil. In Tripoli, the company maintains permanent offices 12:25. Libyans and Americans work together 12:35. Geological drafting room 12:50. In the Paleo laboratory young Libyans work as lab assistants 13:16. The End.
The Zelten oil field (now the Nasser field) is located at the foot of the Zelten Mountains, about 169 kilometres (105 mi) south of Brega. Zelten holds the title as the largest oil field in the Gulf of Sidra. The 229 wells in Zelten use a gas lifting system.
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