Exhibition room

This is how the earth and other planets were born. The surface of the earth, which had just been born from a huge collision, was covered with a magma ocean, but soon after, it cooled and a primitive ocean formed on the surface of the earth. It is believed that primitive life was born in the primordial ocean at that time, as carbon of biological origin was discovered in 3.8 billion-year-old geographic features in Greenland.

As a result, the ozone layer was formed which accelerated the speed of the evolution of life. During the Precambrian era, about 600 million years ago, various kinds of creatures appeared. The coelacanth, which has a backbone, appeared about 400 million years ago and continues to still live near Madagascar to this day. Furthermore, life expanded onto land, and the earth became the only planet filled with abundance of life.

Among the dinosaurs, large dinosaurs with a body length of 40m had also appeared, diversified and thrived through adapting to various different environments. Dinosaurs are divided into two groups by pelvis shape: "Saurischian" dinosaurs with lizard-shaped pelvises, and "Ornithischian" dinosaurs with bird-shaped pelvises. It is said that some dinosaurs walked on two legs, some had feathers, and some dinosaurs even warmed their eggs and did "parenting" acts.

In the Cenozoic era, plants with flowers grew and mammals thrived. Since about 2.6 million years ago, the Earth had been periodically struck by harsh glaciers, that covered its continents. Around this time, our human ancestors appeared, gradually expanding their living ranges while using their smarts, and took on a leading role on earth. Then, about 10,000 years ago, the last ice age ended, paving the way to the earth we see today.

Organic matter that sank to the depths underwent chemical changes under the heat and pressure of being underground over millions to tens of millions of years and turned into oil. The oil that formed, slowly moved over a long period of time thorough the strata that consist of rough grains such as sand, due to underground pressure and buoyancy. When the flow of oil is blocked by fine grains such as mudstone, it begins to gather. A stratum containing a large amount of oil is called a petroleum reservoir, and rocks that easily accumulate oil with many gaps in them are called reservoir rocks.

By researching fossils, we can learn the age of the stratum in which they were contained, and the environment in which the organism lived whether it was sea or land, hot or cold. Various fossils are displayed in this case. There are also fossils of dinosaur eggs. Also, some fossils are too small to observe with the naked eye so have a look through the lens of the microscope.

The rope-type mechanical oil digging which had already been successful in 1890 in Amaze, Izumozaki was introduced to Niitsu in 1899, and it became possible to dig to depths of up to about 1,500m deep. In 1912, a rotary type of oil digging with even better excavation performance was introduced. Most modern oil wells can reach between 3,000m and 5,000m in depth.

This type of well is called an "artesian well". For those that do not have the power to emerge naturally, people use a device such as a pump to draw up the oil. In the case of the Niitsu oil field, most of the wells produced crude oil using a man-made oil extraction method using a pump.

There are various types of bits to use to dig different types of rocks. For normal drilling, tricone bits the red ones, are used. When digging extremely hard rocks, diamond bits, the yellow ones, may be used. The digging debris excavated with the bit is carried up to the surface by the muddy water sent to the bit through the iron pipe. In case of important geological formations such as oil-containing strata and rocks, they may be collected as they are without digging up the debris. In this case, a special bit is used to collect the core.

It is solidified due to the loss of volatile components of crude oil exuded near the surface of the earth. In Mesopotamia and Persia in BC, it was important as an adhesive for bricks and as a material to apply onto the seams of ship boards to prevent leaking. It was also used as a weapon, as a mixture of naphtha with sulfur, saltpeter, and fats and oils that was feared as "Greek fire." In Egypt, it was indispensable for its use in the mummification process.

At the refinery, crude oil is heated and separated by a shelf in a tower with a height of about 50 meters called an atmospheric distillation unit. Substances with a low boiling point such as LP gas, gasoline, and naphtha are removed at the upper shelf, and substances with a high boiling point such as heavy oil are extracted from the bottom. Furthermore, naphtha, obtained at the same time as gasoline, can be made into chemical fibers, chemical fertilizers, synthetic plastic detergents, dyes, paints, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, etc., which are indispensable for our lives as petrochemical products.

Mr. Naito Hisahiro was from Ishiji, Nishiyama-machi in Kashiwazaki City and started his contribution to the Japanese oil industry with the development of an offshore oil field in Amaze, then he established a Japanese oil company with influential people from the prefecture in 1883. Mr. Naito continuously introduced new knowledge and technology and became a great force in developing the oil industry in Niigata. Mr. Nakano Kanichi was born in Kanazu Village in what is now Niitsu, and after the enaction of the "Nihon Koho" mining law, he succeeded in oiling at the Niitsu oil field for the first time in 1874. Many troubles followed, but eventually Mr. Nakano expanded his business, introduced the kazusabori digging method and mechanical digging, and he made every effort and brought the height of prosperity to the Niitsu oil field and so came to be called the "Oil King". Mr. Nakano also made great contributions to the public by providing scholarships and helping establish schools.

It also includes sulfur, nitrogen, and oxygen compounds and trace amounts of metals. Crude oil can be divided into light oil, medium oil, heavy oil, and so on, according to their composition. Crude oils from different regions are lined up in their respective bottles on the exhibition stand. Crude oil has different viscosities depending on the components within. The containers with the thick oil and the then oil are a seesaw. Feel free to move it and see how the sticky crude oil stays on the sides of the container for a long time, and the non-sticky crude oil flows immediately and does not stick to the container.

In Japan, the amount of oil produced in 2017 was 55 kiloliters, and the amount supplied by imports in the same year was 190 million KL, therefore imports accounted for 99.7% of oil used in Japan. The oil produced in Japan in a whole year is only enough for one day of consumption. Furthermore, in the same year, 87.3% of oil imports came from countries in the Middle East.

Crude oil is carried by large tankers and stored by type in large white tanks at refineries. It is then sent to a distillation facility, which has red and white colored chimneys where the crude oil is refined. The refined products are sorted by type, stored in small black tanks, and transported to their respective consumption areas by railroad tankers, tank trucks, and small tankers. The total amount of oil stockpiled in Japan for one year, including at private refineries and national petroleum stockpiling bases, is about 100 million KL, and about half a year's worth is constantly stockpiled.