Geology Reference
In-Depth Information
The beginnings of the oil industry in Burma are known to go
back to at least the thirteenth century. By the eighteenth cent-
ury it was the largest producer of oil in the world, and it was
not until the middle of the nineteenth century that it was over-
taken by the United States. At that time the rights to sink wells
were shared by 24 families known collectively as the Twinzayos
(literally 'well eaters' or those who lived from the proceeds of
well ownership) and these rights were handed down through
the generations from male to male, or female to female. In 1885
the last but one of the Burmese kings, King Mindon, acquired
nearly two hundred wells, a large number of which came as a
dowry, and it was these Royal wells that were first leased to the
Burmah Oil Company when it was formed in 1886. So for twenty
years, until 1906, the Burmah Oil Company and the Twinzayos
shared the oil bearing areas of the Yenangyaung field, but by
1908 the Twinzayos realised the benefits of allowing outfits with
modern equipment do all the work, and leased wells to five other
companies. The race was on. In 1895 a well site had sold for
100 rupees, by 1908 it was worth 60 000 rupees, approximately
£4000.
The first mechanically drilled well in Burma was completed
in 1887. Until that time oil production had been obtained from
hand dug wells above natural seeps of oil occurring at the
surface. Shafts for the hand dug wells were started by digging
pits about five feet square which were shored up by timbers.
With increasing depth the well digger himself and, of course,
the spoil to be removed, were hauled to the surface by 'coolies',
mostly women, who ran down an inclined path dragging behind
them a rope that passed over a beam spanning the well head
and was attached to the digger. No one seems to have thought
of a windlass. When the pit became so deep such that very little
light could penetrate, a mirror would be angled so that the sun's
