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| A Christmas Tree of Petroleum Industry (Source: Internet) |
During Christmas, beautiful Christmas trees adorn our drawing rooms. We decorate it with lights, candles and stars etc. Without this green leafy tree we cannot imagine our festival of Christmas.
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| Christmas Tree in a Stamp |
Oil prospecting, exploration and production are multi-billion dollar gamble games. People of this risky business conduct various studies viz. geo-spatial survey, satellite imagery, seismic data analysis, chromatography etc. to locate the hidden petroleum crude oil, beneath of the surface of the Earth. Once a probable area is identified, which may run across several thousands of square kilometres, exploration operation is undertaken. Drilling derricks are erected and wells are drilled from the surface of earth to deep underground. Many a times it turns out to be disappointing – no oil found. These are called Dry Wells. However, efforts pay dividend too. When oil is struck, to the delight of the engineers, a mixture of petroleum crude oil, gas and muddy water comes out through the well head at high pressure.
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| Commemorating Exploration & Production Activities in Azerbaijan |
At this stage there is an urgent need to tame the flow which comes out gushing, due the extra-ordinary pressure within the reservoir, under the crust of the Earth. The drilling paraphernalia is replaced by a complex assembly of master valve, gate valves, gauges, spools, chokes, fittings and pipes to carry the fluid in and out, to and from different directions. The master valve is located at the bottom of the structure. It can be ‘On’ or ‘Off’ position to monitor the flow, mostly with remote control. The upper portion has several ‘branches’ or ‘wings’ depending upon the number of producing zones of the well. As wells can have production from various layers of rocks, each Tree has individual strings of pipelines.
Believe it or not the whole mechanical assembly has certain similarity, at least in appearance, with Christmas tree. Thus it is called ‘Christmas Tree or X-mas Tree’ of Petroleum business. It was developed in the year of 1922.
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| Christmas Tree of Petroleum in a stamp |
Bahrain Post, Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunication, Kingdom of Bahrain on 31st May 2018 has issued a set of three stamps and one miniature sheet on the occasion of ‘The largest discovery of oil in the Kingdom of Bahrain’s history: Khalij Al-Bahrain Basin’. One of the stamps depicts the said basin while the other one has a picture of gas flare with an oil industry personnel wearing BAPCO (Bahrain Petroleum Company) overall. The third stamp has two depictions – one half showing a deep water rig at ‘Khalij Al-Bahrain Basin’ off coast of the kingdom and another half has a Christmas Tree on Earth’s rocky formation at onshore Awali field of 1932.
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| Miniature Sheet with Three Stamps (Courtesy: Ms. Anju Grover) |
Khalij Al-Bahrain-2 offshore well was spud in the month of Mar 2017 after prolonged scientific evaluation of Hanifa and Tuwaiq mountain formations on the region. The flow from the well began on 4th Sept 2017, necessitating the installation of Christmas Trees.
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| First Day Cover of the Stamps (Courtesy: Ms. Anju Grover) |
Among member states of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) - Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain is the least producer of hydrocarbons (oil and gas).
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| Christmas Tree on display during a trade fair at Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania |
Though smallest in production, the Kingdom of Bahrain raises around 80% of its revenues from oil. This was largest discovery of new reserve since 1932 and expected to support the economic growth and national development of the country.
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| Bahrain is a GCC Member |
The stamps on petroleum, issued by oil and gas producing countries, depicts various aspects related to petroleum industry. They range from oil derricks, to jockey pumps, refineries, storage and transportation etc. to end use. Christmas trees are also represented in many such postage stamps. Till the time wells remain in service, Christmas Trees remain there, even at underwater locations, irrespective of winter or summer seasons.
Merry Christmas.
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| Christmas Greetings Issued by India Post 2016 |
The story was published in the popular philatelic e-magazine Ananathapuri Stamp Bulletin (Dec 2020 issue). The relevant pages are copied here.
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| Cover Page of the Magazine |
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| First Page of the story (1 of 2) |
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| Second Page of the Story (2 of 2) |
The information provided in the article is for general informational purposes only. All information is provided in good faith. This is only for the sharing of knowledge of Philately with philatelist fraternity. No commercial angle, whatsoever, is involved. No intention to infringe any type of copyright. Under no circumstances I shall have any liability for reliance on any information provided in the story.
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