During World War II there was a high rate of merchant-marine tankers lost due to Nazi submarines operating along the Eastern coast of United States. As a result of this war time disturbance, prompted was the development and construction of the Virginia and Colonial product pipelines to link the Gulf Coast with the Northeast United States. This provided a network of crude oil petroleum products pipelines, unexposed to the Nazi submarine strategy. Additionally oil was the driving factor determining who would win the war. Oil is processed or refined in various ways and used to make toluene for making bombs, laying roads, manufacturing of rubber for tires, gasoline for trucks and airplanes, and as a lubricant for guns and machinery. Due to this demand for petroleum products, an improved refinery process was essential. This lead to the development and use of catalyst to improve the quality of transportation fuels, and to increase their supply. These improvements included catalytic cracking of heavy oils, alkylation, polymerization, and isomerization. These added improvements changed the industry of petroleum and refinery process for years to come. This enabled the petroleum industry to meet the demand required of high performance combat aircraft’s, to supply increasing demand, and to supply the war time needs demanded of the industry.

References

1. The U.S. Oil Refining Industry: Background in Changing Markets and Fuel Policies,Anthony Andrews, Robert Pirog, Molly F. Sherlock, 2010

2. http://hnn.us/article/339

3. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/454440/petroleum-refining/81778/Conversion-to-light-fuels