Aeilco Zijlker was the Dutch entrepreneur who, in 1883, conducted the first successful petroleum test-borings near Pangkalan Brandan in the Landschap (self-governing territory) of Langkat on Sumatra’s East Coast, thereby inaugurating the Dutch colonial petroleum industry. His 1884 concession from the Sultan of Langkat became the legal foundation of the Koninklijke Petroleum Maatschappij when it was formed in 1890, the year in which Zijlker sold his petroleum business for ƒ371,000.
Test-borings and discovery
Zijlker began prospecting for petroleum near Pangkalan Brandan in 1883, at a time when the region lay immediately adjacent to the still-contested territory of Atjeh and was part of the Landschap Langkat, governed by its own ruler. The borings established commercially exploitable quantities of petroleum. In 1884 Zijlker secured a formal concession from the Sultan of Langkat, providing the legal title that underpinned all subsequent development.
Dr. T. Volker describes Zijlker’s enterprise as one of the most significant early events in the economic history of Sumatra’s East Coast, but notes that the industry he founded was exposed from the outset to “one of the serious dangers” (“een van de ernstige bedreigingen”) in the form of Acehnese raiding parties, which continued to threaten the northern plantation and petroleum belt until the pacification of 1899.
Sale to the Koninklijke
By 1890, when the Koninklijke Petroleum Maatschappij was formally constituted on the basis of Zijlker’s concession, he sold his petroleum business for ƒ371,000. The Koninklijke built its first refinery at Pangkalan Brandan and expanded production until by June 1892 it was producing 18,000 cases of petroleum per month. Under Kessler and subsequently Deterding, the Koninklijke grew into the dominant force in Dutch colonial oil — eventually merging with the Shell Transport and Trading Co. to form the entity now known as Royal Dutch Shell.
Significance
Zijlker’s initiative at Pangkalan Brandan in 1883 placed Sumatra’s East Coast — in immediate proximity to Atjeh — at the origin point of one of the twentieth century’s largest petroleum concerns. The ƒ371,000 he received in 1890 was modest compensation for an enterprise that within seven years was exporting petroleum worth ƒ31,000,000 annually. His name is borne by a street in present-day Pangkalan Brandan.
Sources
Wat Indië Ontving en Schonk, onder leiding van Dr. C. W. Wormser (Amsterdam: Wereldbibliotheek N.V., 1946), p. 252 (chapter Mijnbouw door Ir. F. P. C. S. van der Ploeg).
See Also
- Koninklijke Petroleum Maatschappij
- Pangkalan Brandan
- Langkat
- A. J. B. Kessler
- H. W. A. Deterding
- Royal Dutch Shell
- Acehnese raids on East Sumatra
- Gouvernement Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden
- 1883
- 1884
- 1890
- Acheh
- F. P. C. S. van der Ploeg
- Wat Indië Ontving en Schonk
Source
Van Oerbosch tot Cultuurgebied: Een Schets van de Beteekenis van de Tabak, de Andere Cultures en de Industrie ter Oostkust van Sumatra, by Dr. T. Volker (Medan: Deli Planters Vereeniging, 1928), pp. 47–53. Delpher Digital Library, reference DLP-76. Universiteitsbibliotheek Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, shelfmark 09383.
Wat Indië Ontving en Schonk, onder leiding van Dr. C. W. Wormser (Amsterdam: Wereldbibliotheek N.V., 1946), pp. 252–253 (chapter Mijnbouw door Ir. F. P. C. S. van der Ploeg).