Petroleum has been known in Roumania and Moldavia for at least 50 years, and was collected by the peasants for use as wagon-grease, and in medicine. It was first distilled to produce a lighting oil in 1857-8, and was sent into commerce both by rail and by the Danube. The Roumanian petroleum-field lies on the southern slopes of the Transylvanian Carpathians, from Kolibas to Rimnik Sarat, the most important points being Kolibas, Baikoiu, Pukureti, Tintea, Duftinesti, Sarate, and Rimnik Sarat. All these occur in the Miocene. The largest and deepest wells are in Sarate, and give some 3500 barrels yearly. The wells of Sarate, Kolibas, Pukureti, Duftinesti, and Tintea, lie only 10-18 kilom. from the Plojeeti railway-station. Over an area of some 25 acres in Baikiou, the natives utilize the inflammable vapour escaping from the earth for cooking purposes. Petroleum is usually struck at a depth of 250-550 ft. The sinking of the shafts and extraction of the oil are performed in the moat primitive manner. The oil is of the denser character, its sp. gr. being 40° 48° B. It is refined at Sarate and Plojesti, affording about 40 per cent. of 1st quality lighting-oil, 20 per cent. of 2nd, 22i per cent. of paraffin, and 17i per cent. of residue. The raw petroleum is largely sent to Vienna, Peat, and Odessa, and some refined to Constantinople. The quality from different walls varies widely. Thus while the raw material from Sarate gives 40 per cent. of 1st quality petroleum at 42° B., the Plojesti product gives 35 per cent. of let quality petroleum, and 15 per cent. of benzine at 55° B. It is considered certain by Dr. Gintl that the whole Miocene formation of Roumania will be found to yield not only petroleum but ozokerit.
The Moldavian petroleum-field occupies a triangular area of over -} million acres, bordered by the rivers Trotus and Taalin. The principal localities are Moinesti, Salante, and Comonesti, lying 25-30 kdom. S.-W. of the railway-station of Bachu. Trial holes have also been sunk at Slanicu, about 7 Idiom. S. of Okna, but hitherto without much result. The geological formation is Eocene, and bears a general resemblance to that of Galicia. In Salante and Comonesti, the wells strike oil at 150-250 ft. ; in Moinesti they reach a depth of 400 ft. The whole operations are conducted in the rudest possible manner. The petroleum sells at the rate of about ld. per 2i lb. on the spot. The oil is somewhat darker-coloured than the Galician. It is almost free from paraffin, and has the low freezing-point of - 20° ( - 4° F.), so that it is admirably adapted for street-lighting in winter. The sp. gr. of the raw petroleum is 1.307 ; of the distilled, Distillation is but little carried on in Moldavia ; there are some 10 distilleries in Salante and Moinesti, but the bulk is exported in the raw state to Roumania, Bukowina, and Galicia. The raw petroleum affords by distillation about 35} per cent. of lst quality lighting-oil, 30i per cent. of 2nd quality, 17} per cent. of tar, and 161 per cent. of residue. The annual production is estimated by Dr. Gintl at 4000 barrels from Moinesti and Comonesti, 2000 from Salante, and 1000 from various other spots. The import of Moldavian and Roumanian petroleum into Austria by the Lemberg-Jassy railway has risen from 500 barrels in 1870 to 2350 in 1876.
Russia possesses a large territory affording petroleum. This has been officially estimated at 14,000 sq. miles, which is an obvious exaggeration. The present chief seats of the oil industry are Baku, at the S.-E. end of the Caucasian mountains ; Kertch, on the Kouban river ; and the neigh bourhood of Zarskia Kolodza, about the centre of the S.-W. slopes. The petroleum is found in the Tertiary beds overlying Miocene, the wells having a depth of 280-350 ft. The wells and their
production in 1875 were :—Kouban district, 42 wells, 230,500 poods (of 36 lb.) ; Terak, 29 wells, 22,160 poods ; Dagestan, 11 wells, 6200 poods; Apsheron peninsula (Baku), 119 wells, 6,265,728 poods; S. of Baku ou the Caspian shores, 72 wells, 125,000 poods; total, 273 wells, 6,649,588 poods, or 105,550 tons. The extent of the Caucasian petroleum deposits is quite an unknown figure, but the indications imply an immense area, and borings have been almost everywhere successful in reaching oil. The Mogan steppe and the country around Shemaka are alluded to in a recent consular report as offering unusual inducements to prospectors, especially as about of the land is desert, utterly useless for agriculture, and purchasable at a low figure. At present everything is done in a most primitive manner ; but an American firm proposes laying a pipe from Baku and the Mogan steppe to the Black Sea. Great quantities of petroleum are now allowed to run to waste. A peculiarity of the Balm petroleum is its high sp. gr., as compared with American having the same boiling-point. It gives 10 per cent. more light than American, and is more readily drawn up the wick to the flame. The high sp. gr. is availed of by manufacturers of lubricating-oil, who send into European markets an oil of 0.940 sp. gr., without any extraneous addition.
Petroleum-springs occur in Zante, one of the Ionian Islands ; probably large supplies might be obtained, if proper means were adopted. In Italy, traces of petroleum, at present unprofitable, are found at Monte Zolo, and Combs di Sassatello. Egyptian petroleum has a ep. gr. of ; it affords a fine lubricator, free from tarry matter, but is inferior as an illuminator. Of Indian localities, the most important is Independent Burma. Here petroleum is chiefly found near the village of Ye-nang-gy-oung, on the banks of the Irawadi. Upwards of 100 wells exist, having a common depth of 210-240 ft., occasionally increasing to 300. The wells are square shafts, 3-4 ft. across, lined with timber. The oil issues spontaneously, in inexhaustible quantities, the annual yield exceeding 11,000 tons, much of which reaches England. Petroleum-wells occur also in the British Burmese districts of Akyab, Kyouk-hpyu, and Thayet-myo, many being worked very successfully by means of British capital. Oil has been worked in the neighbourhood of the coal-fields of S. Lakhimpur, in Assam. Two spots In the Rawal Pindi district of the Punjab afforded 2756 gal. in 1873-4. Formosa possesses large oil-grounds, which are monopolized by the Chinese Govern ment; the oil is very slightly coloured, and of low sp. gr., and burns in lamps without being refined. Petroleum is assuming some importance as a Japanese product. It occurs principally in the provinces of Echigo, Shinano, Uyo, and Totomi. Many hundred springs are met with in Echigo ; in individual spots, some 60-100 are at work. The borings vary from 2 to 600 ft. in depth. At Kanadoza, the oil flows out on the actual surface of the ground, and costs nothing but collecting. About 90 per cent. is obtained by rectification. The yield is estimated at about 750 gal. daily. The oil is of two kinds :—(a) clear, containing 8 per cent. of light oil, 33 per cent. of burning-oil, 48 per cent. of heavy oil, and 12 per cent. of residue ; (I) dark, containing 9 per cent. of lamp-oil, 58 per cent. of heavy oil, and 321 per cent, of residue. In Shinano, the daily yield of some 40 wells is 350 gal. of oil, mostly dark-coloured, and affording only 13 per cant. of burning oil. A refinery has been erected at Niigata, capable of turning out some 4000 gal. daily, and drawing its supplies from Totomi province, a distance of 100 miles by water.