The Fang Oil Field is in the area of Tambon Mae Sun, Fang District, Chiang Mai. Its operation is under the Department of Energy, Ministry of Defence. The oil field was discovered around 100 years ago by the villagers who found a black liquid on the surface of the ground but did not know what it was. Some said it was magic oil so they used it as a healing sap. Word got to the Chiang Mai Ruler so he reserved it for the government. The locals called it the Royal Oil Field or Chao Luangs Oil Field for that reason.
In 1934, The Defence Energy Department came in to explore the field and hired two Swiss geologists, Dr. Arnold Heim and Dr. Hans Hirschi, to do surface explorations and dig a small well but no real progress was reported. They returned many more times but no real developments were furthered.
Between 1949-1956 an oil exploration unit was sent into the area under the order of the Metallurgy Department to drill for oil in the Chaiprakarn Oil Field and built a small experimental oil refinery that is run on needed occasions. It could drill up 1,000 liters of crude oil. Interestingly the oil refining at this stage was meant to be used in making asphalt tar, a material to pave roads with, rather than producing gasoline purposes due to the governments urgent policy to build interstate highways nation wide.
In 1956, the work of Fang Oil Field was transferred to the Defence Energy Department. That same year, Dr. Harold Hutton, an expert in petroleum came to explore the oil field in Fang District and wrote a report stating that the crude oil in Fang was enough for commercial use and suggested that a refinery with the capacity of over 1,000 barrels should be built there.
On September 12, 1956 the Defence Energy Department started full development under which the first petroleum fuels refining was in operation along with other exploration throughout the Northern Region. Examples of the places explored were the Chiang Rai River Basin, Phayao River Basin and the Lampang River Basin. References
National Energy Authority. (1969). The Energy Situation in Thailand.
Bangkok: National Energy Authority.
Golden Jubilee Network. (2008). Oil and Natural Gas, Fang Oil Field.
Retrieved June 17, 2008, from
http://kanchanapisek.or.th/kp8/cem/cem710.html
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1952
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