The National Oil Company dug the wells, used them up and left them for “dead”. Here is how the natives took over the abandoned wells on the island of Java (the wells still seep oil, but very slowly) –

1) Find a well, erect a wooden derrick over it:



2) use the truck engine to pull the cable with a dipping bucket:



3) direct the lifted oil (mixed with water, inside the catch tube) down the ditch to the separator:



4) the separator pit: allow the water and oil to separate, collect the crude:



5) “the pipeline” – carry it in buckets to the refinery:



6) The Refinery: 55-gallon drum, buried in the earth above the fire. Pour the crude in, seal the aperture with mud – and wait till the woodfire heats it to the temperature of separation into vapors.



7) Cooling pipe: the vapors enter the submerged pipe (underwater) and travel 20ft to the other end, where they condense into diesel.



The diesel is ready (they are able to recover 80% of the crude into diesel). Time to deliver it to the market:




(images credit: Allen Johnston)