THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12745, 24 April 1912, Page 8

THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY.

| Some interesting facts are given by the I London Spectator in a review of a bookcalled "The Corning of Petroleum," just issued. The statements regarding the fountain wells in Mexico, California^, and Russia sound almost incredible. The Lake View well in California, started in 1910, and spouted for over fifteen months. It has been estimated to have produced 1,000,000 tons of oil, pf which about hall was saved, and ht one time it was yielding over 10,000 tons per day. An interesting jioint in regard to this well is tliat the company which started boring for oil ran out of funds when they had leached a depth of 1800 feet, when another company took up the work, and at a depth of *2222 feet struck one of the most prolific "gushers" in the world. There is another well belonging to the Mexican Eagle Company which is supposed to liave produced, as yet, about 600,000 tons of oil, most of which was lost^ before the well could be "capped," obviously not a very easy process in view of the tremendous pressure and force of these great upmshes of oil. One wonders how it is possible to compete with these huge supplies where there is only a moderate flow of oil, or where as in some cases, it actually has to be pumped. Other interesting facts in the same article relate to the cost of sinking a well. This varies with the depth at which the oil is struck, and the strength of the uprush from the bed. In many of the oil fields the oil lies in sand among strata which may be compared in shape to rolling waves. The oil sand stratum, originally horizontal, has been compressed by the cooling of the earth's crust into arches and troughs, and the result has been that the- gas, being the lightest, has collected in the crests of the arches; the water as tho heaviest has collected in tho troughs, and the oil sands lies on the flanks. When the drill, which is sunk through the overlying strata, reaches the oil sand, the pressure of the gas forces the oil up the drill, and the fortunate driller has struck his gusher. The writer in the Spectator, further emphasises the important fact that large sums mav be spent without anv reward at all.' The oil sand stratum may lie deep or shallow the driller may be unluckv enough to drill where no oil lies. He "mav have to drill through hard or soft substance. In Louisiana, Texas, and parts of Cali,or ™- a well cam be drilled for as little as ±-200, while in another part of CaHtorma as much as £30,000 has beett spent on a single well. Thg average price of boring a Russian oil weil to a depth of 20C8 feet, including engine? derrick, and outfit, is about £5000