Britain could find coal around much of its empire but had greater difficulty securing oil, contributing to the government's 1914 controlling stake in the Anglo-Persian Oil Company. Control of a company or field did not itself put fuel in a warship's tanks. Pipelines moved liquid more efficiently than railways moved coal, but they did not cross every sea and could be attacked. Moving coal out of regions such as Wales had required extensive railway construction, illustrating how a fuel's physical form shaped the transport network around it. Tankers and storage therefore remained essential layers between petroleum resources and operational naval supply.
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Owning oil fields did not deliver fuel to the fleet
Britain's stake in Anglo-Persian oil secured access at the source, but pipelines, tankers, storage, and vulnerable transport links still had to connect it to the Navy.