Part 1, Chapter 6 Summary

In 1896, the Samuels' syndicate dispatched Mark Abrahams to Borneo to secure a supply of oil for its tankers and storage facilities. Abrahams lacked oil experience, but plunged through the jungle to the "Black Spot" and set to work. The first gusher, in 1898, yielded crude unsuitable for kerosene but useable, without needing refinement, as fuel oil. For ten years, Samuel nagged the Royal Navy about converting the fleet from coal to oil. Events in South Africa, Russia, and China all worked against the interests of the renamed Shell Transport and Trading Company. Freight rates plummeted and the Borneo operation fell short of expectations, even while Royal Dutch was flourishing in Sumatra. Drillers refused to give up despite 110 failures, and eventually struck luck at Perlak in late 1899. Henri Deterding took over Asian operations in 1900 and would dominate the world of oil for the...