Pangkalan Brandan (or Pangkalanbrandan) (''Pangkalanberandan'') is a port town in Langkat Regency, North Sumatra province,

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

, forty miles north west of

Medan Medan (; English: ) is the capital and largest city of the Indonesian province of North Sumatra, as well as a regional hub and financial centre of Sumatra. According to the National Development Planning Agency, Medan is one of the four mai ...

, close to the boundary with Aceh. The area's population is estimated at around 21,000. Oil seepages were known in the archipelago since antiquity, the small ponds containing a mineral wax used for lighting

torches A torch is a stick with combustible material at one end, which is ignited and used as a light source. Torches have been used throughout history, and are still used in processions, symbolic and religious events, and in juggling entertainment. In ...

and

caulking Caulk or, less frequently, caulking is a material used to seal joints or seams against leakage in various structures and piping. The oldest form of caulk consisted of fibrous materials driven into the wedge-shaped seams between boards on ...

boats. In 1880, East Sumatra Tobacco Company's Aeilko Jans Zijlker discovered these deposits contained up to 62 percent

kerosene Kerosene, paraffin, or lamp oil is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in aviation as well as households. Its name derives from el, κηρός (''keros'') meaning "wax", and was regi ...

. Acquiring a concession from the Sultan of

Langkat The Sultanate of Langkat () was a Malay Muslim state located in modern Langkat Regency, North Sumatra. It predates Islam in the region, but no historical records before the 17th century survive. It prospered with the opening of rubber plantatio ...

, near the Balaban River called Telaga Said, Zijlker's Provisional Sumatra Petroleum Company drilled the first successful oil well in 1885, called Telega Tunggal No 1. Seeking capital in 1890, Zijlker issued stock in "

Royal Dutch Company Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New Yo ...

for the Working of Petroleum Wells in the

Dutch Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...

", after

William III of the Netherlands William III (Dutch: ''Willem Alexander Paul Frederik Lodewijk''; English: ''William Alexander Paul Frederick Louis''; 19 February 1817 – 23 November 1890) was King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg from 1849 until his death in ...

granted him the license to use the royal title. After Zijlker's sudden death in 1890, Jean Baptiste August Kessler took over management of operations in 1891. A refinery on the Balaban River, connected by a 6 mile pipeline to the wells, was operational in 1892. Pangkalan Brandan was noted to be the first area of Indonesia which supported the development of other areas with its rich oil supply, its well can be traced as the origin of the global oil giant

Royal Dutch Shell Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New Yo ...

. There has been a proposal to use waste from the local

palm oil industry Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp (reddish pulp) of the fruit of the oil palms. The oil is used in food manufacturing, in beauty products, and as biofuel. Palm oil accounted for about 33% of global oils produced from ...

to generate electricity.

References

Shell plc Populated places in North Sumatra {{Indonesia-stub