bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Oil Laws of Latin America
Authors: Schuster Edward , Feuille Frank
Published: June 2014

As the time allotted is short, we can present only a general idea of the oillaws in the Latin-American republics, as a supplement to Bulletin 206 of theDepartment of the Interior compiled under the direction of J. W. Thompson ofthe Bureau of Mines and entitled "Petroleum Laws of All America." Weshall not discuss the European colonies in Latin America nor the islandrepublics. As to the countries discussed, we shall attempt to give the mainfeatures of such special petroleum legislation as has been adopted prior to theearly part of this year; where no special petroleum laws exist, we must look tothe mining codes for light on the petroleum policy.

As the laws and regulations for the extraction of the metals are oftendifficult of application to, and are lacking in many essentials for, thepetroleum industry, it is best for persons or companies desiring to enter, on alarge scale, into the petroleum exploration and development of countries nothaving special petroleum legislation, to obtain a concession contract from theexecutive of the country under consideration, and to have the concessionapproved by the congress. If this concession, which would then be a speciallaw, contains nothing contrary to the constitution of that country and does notinfringe on vested rights of third parties, it should be reasonably safe. If insuch country there is some doubt as to whether the petroleum subsoil is ownedby the nation or the private surface owner, only public lands should be coveredwith the concession.

Guatemala is the only republic in the group that discriminates directlyagainst foreigners. Bolivia, Ecuador, Mexico and Venezuela require waivers ofdiplomatic protection. Colombia requires foreigners to agree to be bound by itsalien law.

AIME 068–76
Petroleum Resources of Japan
Authors: Clements J. Morgan
Published: June 2014

Petroleum has been known in Japan since at least 668 A. D., for a pictureshows the presentation, during that year, to the Emperor Tenchi (Tenji) of"burning water" and "burning earth" by his subjects from EchigoProvince, which today is the largest producer of petroleum in Japan. Theburning water was doubtless petroleum and the burning earth either bituminousshale or oil-soaked earth or rock from near the oil seepages.

The early methods of getting the oil were simple and similar to methods usedtoday in Japan and in China. Where the seepages occurred, trenches or shallowwells were dug along the seepages and allowed to fill with oil, which was thenbailed out; in some cases, they filled with oil and water and overflowed.During the 300 years following 1500 A. D., the use of petroleum in EchigoProvince seems to have increased considerably, as compared with earliercenturies, and records show that in 1818 the depth of the wells had beengreatly increased. Doubtless, they passed through the seepages and tapped theshallow oil-bearing strata; probably some of these deeper wells were dug beforethat time.

The real value of petroleum was not recognized until early in the Meiji era, which began in 1868, when the Japanese learned that the kerosene that was beingimported was derived from petroleum. Guided solely by information obtained frombooks, they refined the oil and increased the depth of their wells in order toincrease the production. The deepest well, dug by hand, about this time was 894ft.' (273 m.) and by 1874 the recorded production reached 3499 barrels.

In 1876, Benjamin Smith Lyman prepared geological maps of the Echigo oilfield, which were the first of such geological maps made in Japan, and based onthese a more enlightened development of the oil fields began; the Japanese, however, still dug the wells by hand. Toward the end of the '80s, an Americanwell-drilling outfit was secured, but the efforts to use it failed from lack ofexperience by the operators.

AIME 068–79
Production Problems in the Grass Creek Oil Field
Authors: Estabrook Edward L.
Published: June 2014

This paper gives a brief account of the geologic and production problemsencountered in the Grass Creek oil field, the methods used in their solution, and the beneficial results obtained from the work. The author wishes toacknowledge the assistance received from J. H. Pearson and Miss Ninetta A.Davis in the collection of the data and the preparation of the cross-sections.Permission for its publication was given by the officials of the MidwestRefining Co. and the Ohio Oil Co.

The Grass Creek oil field is located in Ts. 98–99 W., R. 46 N., Hot SpringsCounty, Wyo. The productive area includes about 2? mi. (4 km.) on the apex of agreat anticlinal fold occupying more than 150 sq. mi. Fig. 1 shows thestructural contours of the field. Oil was discovered in the field in June,1914; development proceeded rapidly and production rose to a maximum in 1918.About 350 wells, 800 to 1500 ft. (243 to 457 m.) deep, have been drilled toreach the upper oil sands; two companies, the Ohio Oil Co. and the MidwestRefining Co., operate the entire field.

The principal producing sands in the field are members of the FrontierFormation, a series of sands and shales occurring in the upper portion of theColorado Group of the Upper Cretaceous series. These Frontier, or "WallCreek" sands are also productive in the Salt Creek, Big Muddy, and ElkBasin fields and, therefore, are much the most important reservoirs of lightoil in Wyoming. At Grass Creek, the sands in the Formation are more numerousthan in the other fields and much less uniform in thickness and character.Usually, eight distinct beds are encountered and in some wells twelve sandshave been reported.

AIME 068–83
Oil Reserves of the United States
Authors: White David
Published: June 2014

The submission of carefully prepared estimates of the oil reserves of theUnited States calls for no apology or explanation. In this country, petroleumis a rapidly wasting asset and an occasional appraisal of the amount remainingin the ground is a simple business procedure to safeguard the general welfareand the prosperity of the republic. The rumored danger of failure, in the nearfuture, of the foreign supply on which we depend in constantly increasingamounts makes the immediate review of our available reserves the moreimperative.

The Director of the U. S. Geological Survey, in March, 1921, requested theAmerican Association of Petroleum Geologists to cooperate in the preparation ofnew estimates of the oil remaining in the ground. With the members of thiscooperative committee, state geologists, regional geologists, consultingspecialists, and geologists and engineers attached to many companies workedboth independently and through subcommittees. The reports for districts, counties, fields, etc., after review by local or state committees, werediscussed by the joint cooperative committee in conferences that, in someinstances, were attended by the original compilers of estimates for the statesor smaller areas. Finally the data were reviewed and the figures revised by thejoint cooperative committee, so that the totals given in Table 1 represent theopinion of the committee, which was composed of F. W. DeWolf, W. E. Wrather, Roswell H. Johnson, Wallace A. Pratt, Alexander W. McCoy, Carl H. Beal, C. T.Lupton, G. C. Matson, K. C. Heald, W. T. Thom Jr., A. E. Fath, Kirtley F.Mather, R. C. Moore, and David White, chairman.

Oil geologists and engineers understand well the speculative nature and thechances of error that must attend estimates of the petroleum in the ground whenthey cover not merely prospective territory, but possible territory. Neitherthe character nor the magnitude of the factors of uncertainty is to bedisguised.

AIME 068–65
Recent Exploration for Petroleum in the United Kingdom
Authors: Ickes E.L.
Published: June 2014

During the summer and winter of 1918 eleven standard rigs were erected inthe United Kingdom to test the petroleum prospects of ten structures, eight ofwhich were in England and two in Scotland. By the fall of 1921 ten of the wellswere completed; the remaining one, the D'Arcy in Scotland, was stopped somemonths later. The tests were deep ones, five of the wells being 4000 ft. ormore, the rest varying in depth between 1810 and 3918 ft. The total footagedrilled was 40,047 ft. The holes were put down with standard or cable toolspurchased in the United States (except the boilers). The larger sizes ofcasing, 10-in. and above, were also from America, while the smaller sizes weresecured in Scotland.

The Hardstoft well in England found a small production of high-grade oil andthe D'Arcy well also encountered what is reported as a favorable showing at adepth of 1810 ft. The Werrington and West Calder wells had to be abandoned onaccount of drilling difficulties. The Apedale well encountered greatthicknesses of ash in the Carboniferous and had to be abandoned on account ofdepth. The results might be summarized by saying that of the ten structuresdrilled upon, two yielded encouraging showings; three cannot be considered ashaving been adequately tested; and five produced dry holes, although in some ofthese small oil showings and gas were met.

The total cost of the work amounted to about half a million pounds sterling, which sum includes the cost of all equipment, subsequently sold by thegovernment. The work, under the superintendence of V. L. Conaghan, took placefor the most part in the period immediately following the war - a period ofhigh prices, labor and transportation difficulties, and unsettled conditionsgenerally; factors tending to retard the work and affect the costs.

AIME 070–56
Trend of Prices in the Petroleum Industry
Authors: Pogue Joseph E.
Published: June 2014

The prices of crude petroleum and its derivatives have shown an upward trendfrom 1915 to 1920, and a downward trend from 1920 to 1923, see Table 1. Overthe former period, oil prices were dominated by the rapidly increasing demandsand inflation incident to the war and its aftermath, while over the latterperiod oil prices were influenced at the outset by deflation and then by theconditions of overproduction that have characterized the past three years. Thepurpose of this paper is to analyze the broader features of the more recentprice movements in the petroleum industry and to relate these features to basiceconomic conditions in the industry.

Index Numbers of Oil Prices

The analysis and comparison of price movements may be facilitated byconverting actual prices into relative prices, or index numbers, with 1913 taken as a base of 100. In this way, the various price groups are expressed aspercentages of the 1913 prices and may thus be readily compared with oneanother or with the average prices of other commodities similarlyexpressed.

Table 1 gives the index numbers representing the average prices of crudepetroleum, gasoline, kerosene, fuel oil, lubricating oils, and all commodities.The last named is the index of all commodities as published by the U. S. Bureauof Labor Statistics and is widely accepted as the official measure of thegeneral price level. The index numbers of oil prices were calculated by thewriter from weekly quotations published in trade journals.

Fig. 1 shows in graphic form the trend of oil prices by months over theperiod 1920–23.

AIME 070–65
Technologic Progress in the Oil Industry
Authors: Fohs F. Julius
Published: June 2014

As an industry approaches stabilization, greater and greater stress must belaid on its technologic progress, which becomes a prime aid in improving itscondition. The oil industry is tending toward this stage and hence itsengineers must be pressed into greater service to prevent stabilization andstagnation from becoming synonymous, and to supply, either by improvements inprocesses or by new machinery, a means of obtaining savings in raw and finishedproducts. Thus profits can be assured warranting continued investment.

It may be repeated, technology must apply a slight improvement here, achange there, or a complete renovation, to eliminate inefficiencies and makeeach dollar invested yield greater results. The profits of yesterday were madeof rich strikes, of monopolized patents or processes, of control of prices andof markets. Sixty-five years of growth, of large investment, of healthfulcompetition, and of expanding markets, have put the oil industry in theforemost rank of world industries. Just as the railroads passed a similarperiod of expansion and growth, and are being stabilized with reasonableprofits, so the oil industry must take advantage of the efforts of itsengineers and experts to promote its healthful growth and a better service tothe people.

Herein is attempted a review of recent progress in which is presented theadvances in exploration, production engineering, transportation, refining and greater efficiency in uses of petroleum, with a view not only tostressing important new processes and methods, but also the problems that pressfor solution. This review can only touch outstanding developments of recentyears, but the several Petroleum Division symposiums of program will presentdetails worthy of attention.

Exploration

Geology offers directly little new in the technique of oil-finding majorstress being laid on improvement in subsurface correlation by means offoraminiferal studies, additions to the knowledge of which are being made, slowly but surely, and by means of mineral, and especially heavy mineral, determinations in well samples.
A Discussion on Some of the Factors Affecting Well Spacing
Authors: Brewster F.M.
Published: June 2014

From the standpoint of getting oil from the reservoir sands our presentmethods of extraction are very inefficient. From all data compiled it isevident that about three times as much oil remains in the sand after economicproduction has ceased as was originally produced.

Spacing is not so much a problem of determining how many acres a well willdrain as it is a problem of obtaining the greatest possible yield at theminimum expense. In this paper will be discussed some of the factors affectingyield to show how little we know about recovery and to indicate thepossibilities for further research along the suggested lines. Property linesand surface restrictions should be disregarded and the economic spacing ofwells should be governed by subsurface conditions. However, it is obvious thatall existing conditions, both surface and subsurface must enter into thisproblem.

Some of the important factors affecting production are: Structural position;thickness, porosity and grain size of the sand; gas pressure and hydrostaticpressure; viscosity, capillarity, adhesion and surface tension of the oil;dissolved and occluded gases; isothermal expansion and the gas-oil ratio inlifting the oil.

Structural Position

An oil or gas structure is any arrangement of sand of such a nature as toform a trap suitable for the accumulation of commercial quantities of oil orgas. Structural position has an important effect on a well in that the life ofthe well, the amount of oil produced and the efficiency of the operation dependon this factor. The potential amount of recoverable oil is less at the limitsof the field and theoretically could be handled by a fewer number of wells. Butto prevent water coning and the bypassing of water with the resultantentrapping of oil, the wells should be spaced so that control can be maintainedover water encroachment.

There is some justification for spacing wells near together in the directionof strike when it is assumed that the movement of oil is up the dip of thestructure. Theoretically a screen of closely-spaced wells along the crest ofthe anticline and across the direction of flow would completely drain it underthe influence of hydrostatic pressure.
Core Drilling in Geological Exploration
Authors: Bartram John G. , Wilson John H.
Published: June 2014

Geological explorations by oil companies, state and federal surveys, andprivate consulting geologists, have resulted in the mapping of the greater partof the structures to be found in the Rocky Mountain region. Most of thepromising structures have been drilled and few remain that are generallyregarded as favorable for the accumulation of oil and gas. Undoubtedly, a fewstructures, some of which may produce, exist beneath Tertiary overlaps and morerecent gravel terraces and soil-covered areas. The finding and investigation ofthese structures must be done by core drilling or by geophysical methods.

A consideration of the area of oil-producing land compared with the totalarea of the region will show the folly of systematic core drilling of coveredareas in the hope of picking up structures that will produce oil and gas. Suchan exploration would inevitably result in financial disaster unless theinvestigator were exceptionally endowed with luck. Consequently, all coredrilling done in the Rocky Mountain region has been to supplement and checkfield work which has demonstrated folding, but has been unable to demonstrateclosure or amount of closure due to lack of outcrops. Before the advent of coredrilling, pits were sometimes dug to a depth of 125 ft. to obtain dips. As suchinformation was expensive and often unreliable, because of local crumpling andslumping in shale and crossbedding in sandstones, the advent of core drillingwas inevitable.

Up to the present time the Midwest Refining Co. has investigated tenstructures with the core drills and of these, six were found unworthy of a testwell, three are being drilled, and one is still being investigated.

Operating Data

Local operating conditions are materially different from those of other oilfields. The Midwest Refining Co. is employing two Longyear 2N Fordson-drivendiamond drills.
Basket Core Barrel
Authors: Brown E. Call
Published: June 2014

The following are a few outstanding features of the basket core barrel:It can be made out of scrap casing by anyone in the field.It is possible to take a core inside a 4 1/2 inch casing, which Iunderstand is not being done by the double barrels.It is found useful in picking up the hard teeth that are broken from theother barrels and tools.If the teeth break off they are easily picked up or drilled out.

The cores taken by some of the present-day double barrels are far fromsatisfactory and are unreliable. In one case the shale is distorted, tightlycompressed, and sheared, with mud between the buttons; in another the sand hasbeen sheared into buttons, interbedded with rotary mud which contaminates thesand and may lead to very unfortunate decisions.

A great deal of improvement has been made in core barrels during the lasttwo or three years, but there is still plenty of room for better work.
Deep Drilling Practice in California
Authors: Garrison Robert H.
Published: June 2014

The Miley Oil Co.'s Athens No. 6, completed at 7591 ft., is the deepestproducing oil well in the world as well as the deepest hole ever drilled withthe rotary. The importance of this well lies in the fact that it was not afreak hole drilled with special equipment at terrific cost to break records, but that it was just a part of the day's work. The derrick and machinery weresimilar to dozens of other rigs, the drillers were the same men that had beendigging 4000-ft. holes, and the careful supervision of Superintendent Allisonwas the same that the rotary seems to require at all depths. The formationspenetrated were not particularly hard and were of the same type found in mostof the fields in the Los Angeles Basin. Drilling was completed in LowerPliocene, with no indication of approaching the Miocene. This tends to showthat the ultimate depth of drilling in many parts of the Los Angeles Basin willbe determined by mechanical rather than geological considerations.

Details of Equipment and Procedure

Two hundred and thirty days were consumed in completing Athens No. 6, ofwhich 172 were actual drilling days, thus maintaining an average of 44 ft. perdrilling day. Only Hughes "Simplex" rock bits were used below 4526 ft., no twist-offs occurring past this point. One hundred and fifty-four cores weretaken, yielding a total of 1067 ft. drilled, an average of 6.9 ft. per run.Seven hundred and forty feet of core were extracted, an average of 4.8 ft. perrun, the percentage of recovery being 69.2 per cent. The Elliott Core DrillingCo. Alco type barrel was used. The average time per round trip at depths in theneighborhood of 7000 to 7500 ft. was 7 hr. The minimum time recorded for acomplete round trip was 5 hr. 20 min. at a depth of about 7300 ft. The totalcost of the well, including tanks, traps and all production equipment, was $170,423.67.

Production difficulties proved to be mostly imaginary. Seventy-five hundredfeet of 2 1/2-in. tubing with a flow device at 7000 ft., through which dry gasis infused at a pressure of 300 lb., is sufficient to lift the 100 bbl. of 36.0gravity oil of which the well is at present capable.
The Gas Lift Method of Pumping Oil Wells
Authors: McLaughlin R.P.
Published: June 2014

The name "gas lift" has a new and unfamiliar sound in oil-fieldpractice and may, therefore, require an introduction or definition. The processshould become the subject of engineering discussions in order to dispel generalmisunderstanding.

The gas lift is simply a modified form of the air lift, which has been usedfor many years in raising water from wells, is familiar to Gulf Coast oiloperators and was used considerably in California a number of years ago. Thegas lift differs from the air lift in that natural gas is used as the liftingmedium instead of air.

Gas is used instead of air chiefly because it helps to save and recovernatural gasoline and such natural gas as accompanies the oil. The gasoline, ornatural gas, would be wasted if carried out of an oil well by air because itwould be diluted with the air and form an explosive mixture which could not behandled by compressors. The saving of gasoline is one of the reasons upon whichthe patent covering the process was granted to Philip Jones in 1914.

Gas has a further advantage of not oxidizing or corroding the casing andtubing as air does, especially in the presence of sulfur.

What It Does

The gas lift is able to raise more oil from a well than any kind of a pump.Wells pumping 300 or 400 bbl. daily have been caused to produce more than 1000bbl. per day by the gas lift without injury to the wells.

Method of Action

In order to understand the method of operation and the limitations ofthe-gas-lift process, some consideration must be given to theories that havebeen investigated in connection with the air lift.
Problems of Pumping Deep Wells
Authors: Uren Lester  C.
Published: June 2014

With the depletion of our older, and relatively shallow, oilfields and thenecessity for securing new production from deeper horizons, much attention isbeing given to the improvement of oil-well pumps in order that they mayfunction satisfactorily under the more difficult conditions imposed byincreased depth. Until recently, practically all of the world's petroleum wassecured from wells less than 3000 ft. deep, whereas horizons are now beingexplored to depths of from 5000 to 7000 ft. in some of the more prolificfields, and it seems probable that the greater part of the future supply mustcome from depths in excess of 3000 ft. While much of the early production in anew field is obtained by natural-flow methods, when the stimulus of high gaspressure fails, recourse must be had to some method of pumping. The perfectionof a pump capable of economically and efficiently lifting oil from depthsranging from 3000 to 7000 ft. is therefore a matter of prime importance to theoil-producing industry. This paper is offered as an estimate of the presentstate of development of the oil-well plunger pump and as a review of thegeneral principles involved in its operation in deep-well pumping. A design fora new type of oil-well pump embodying several novel features, is alsodescribed.

Essential Parts of Oil-Well Plunger Pump

The pump commonly used in lifting oil from wells in American practice is ofthe simple displacement type, in which a plunger equipped with a working, ortraveling, valve is given a vertical reciprocating motion in a stationaryworking barrel. The latter is suspended from the surface by tubing, submergedin the well fluid, and is equipped at its lower end with a stationary standingvalve; Figs. 1 and 2 illustrate two common types of oil-well pumps. The simplecup-leather packed plunger of Fig. 1 has its counterpart in the long, hollow, cylindrical, polished steel plunger of Fig. 2; otherwise the two types areidentical in the form and arrangement of their essential parts.
Cleaning Oil Wells by Compressed Air
Authors: Beard A.A. , Bonnell R.A.
Published: June 2014

About three years ago, I.L. Dunn, of Marietta, Ohio, found that wells couldbe cleaned by blowing with compressed air; this method has been used with greatsuccess on many wells in the Marietta, Ohio, district, where compressed air isbeing used to increase production by forcing oil through the depleted sands.About a year ago, the process was successfully used to clean out wells in theLenapah pool in Oklahoma, where an air plant had been installed, under thesupervision of I.L. Dunn. Wells from 900 to 1000 ft. deep, with 40 ft. of sandand cavings in them, were cleaned out in from two to three days.

The use of this process had, so far, been limited to properties using theSmith-Dunn process, where compressed air, under suitable pressure and volume, was available. For other properties, a portable compressor seemed essential;this was built and successfully demonstrated by Mr. Dunn, for the Tidal Oil Co.in September, 1924.

The process of cleaning out with air has been described. It consists oflowering the tubing into the well, with a shoe or nipple of heavy pipesubstituted for the perforated anchor on the bottom. Into the tubing, compressed air is introduced through a rotary swivel hose at the top, or bymeans of swing connections. The tubing is lowered to the top of the cave to becleaned out, several barrels of water are put into the hole, and the compressedair is turned on. This blows out the material between the casing and thetubing, the tubing being lowered as the material is removed.

By this means, the shale cavings, loose sand, rocks, paraffin and othersubstance can be blown out in a surprisingly short time, and more completelythan is possible by drilling tools and sand pumps. Any rocks large enough topass out of the hole will be ejected and larger rocks can usually be crushed bymeans of the heavy nipple or shoe, on the bottom of the tubing, which can beraised and lowered by a winch. For the shallowest wells, 100-lb. pressure canbe used, though not with entire satisfaction. For deeper wells, greaterpressure and volume are needed, though not in direct proportion to the depth.Wells as deep as 2800 ft. were cleaned out in Wyoming by high-pressure air.
Cleaning Oil Wells by Heated Oil
Authors: Knox William J.
Published: June 2014

There are over 200,000 oil wells in the United States that average less thana barrel of oil a day. Many of these wells are old - 25 years and over - yetthey penetrate and give access to unmined reserves of great potential value.The leading men in the industry in recent years have regarded as inevitable animprovement in producing methods by which a more satisfactory recovery could behad.

Conditions in Settled Fields

The rock pressure in settled fields has become practically nil, the "paysand" is fine-grained with porosities of capillary size, the rocktemperature is such that the oil is thick and viscous, the capillary resistancealmost equals the force of gravity and it is a wonder that any oil at allreaches the well.

The average spacing of wells is about one well to eight acres. This is about 600 ft. apart. The sand immediately around the bore of the well, which hasacted as a strainer for all the oil produced from the eight acres, in thecourse of time becomes clogged up by the heavy compounds in the oil passingthrough it. If there is a flow or tendency of movement of the oil in thestratum, why should the oil flow through this small clogged area into the well? Still with the initial flush production and years of dribbling, an average of 20 per cent of the oil is recovered.

Method of Cleaning Wells

Most methods of cleaning oil wells have had for their objective thedeparaffining of the wells. The so-called paraffin base oils, as of Pennsylvania, leave a deposit of paraffin wax in the face of the sand andparaffin wax accumulates in the well itself and on the face of the pay sand, sensibly retarding the flow of oil. Almost no attempts have been made to cleanwells producing an asphalt base oil.

All methods of cleaning, however, are beneficial and temporarily greatlyincrease the production, but they are all costly and of temporary value. The chief objection is that in every case the well must be shut down, the pumptubing and rods pulled and the treatment given. Then the well is restoredphysically to a producing condition and left to get dirty and plugged upagain.
History of Production of Salt Creek Oil Field, Wyoming
Authors: Estabrook Edward L. , Rader Clarence M.
Published: June 2014

The Salt Creek oil field in Natrona County, Wyo., is the largest pool thathas been found in the Rocky Mountain region and one of the largest in theUnited States. Many features of its production records are of peculiarinterest, because of the unusual slowness with which it has been developed.This paper is published by the permission of the Midwest Refining Co., whoserecords have been freely drawn upon. Many members of the Midwest organizationhave assisted in the collection of the material, but Messrs. F. E. Wood and L.E. Smith have been particularly helpful.

The Salt Creek oil field is situated on a great dome with a closure of about1500 ft., which rises at the northern end of along anticline extendingnorth-northwest by south-southeast for fully 25 miles. The productive areaincludes parts of townships 39 and 40 north and ranges 78 and 79 west of thesixth principal meridian. The Teapot oil field occupies a minor dome at aboutthe center of the same anticline and adjoins the Salt Creek oil field on thesoutheast. The Teapot Naval Reserve includes the Teapot Dome and about 760acres of the Salt Creek dome. In this paper, the Salt Creek oil field will beconsidered as including all of the dome, except that part which lies within theTeapot Naval Reserve and the area west of the dome where oil is produced fromshale crevices.

Geology

The geology of the Salt Creek oil field has been fully described byWegemann. The dome is outlined by an escarpment of Shannon sandstone with bedsof the Colorado shale, Upper Cretaceous, outcropping in the center.
Mining Petroleum in France and Germany
Authors: Rice George S. , Davis John A.
Published: June 2014

The Pechelbronn Oil Field

The Pechelbronn oil field is located in the province of Alsace, in the RhineValley, about 30 miles north of Strasbourg. It is approximately 4 miles wideand 12 miles long, extending from the villages of Lobsann on the north toWintershausen and Ohlungen near Haguenau on the south. (See Fig. 1.) Theproductive area includes about 44,000 hectares (107,680 acres). The namePechelbronn signifies "pitchspring" or "pitch-fountain."

The first exploratory galleries were driven in from the hillside in 1735;and in 1745 the first official concession was granted by the French governmentand the first pit sunk to a depth of about 30 ft. Extraction by drilled wellswas begun in 1879, supplementing the mining operations, and during the next 10 years 200 wells were drilled to an average depth of 172 m. (568 ft.). Thebringing in of two "gusher" wells, in 1882 and 1888, respectively, wasfollowed by the abandonment of all underground work.

Underground mining, with a view to increasing the production of petroleum byrecovering the oil left in the sands after drilling wells, was resumed in 1916.This mining operation started by sinking shaft No. 1 to a depth of 150 m. (495ft.). The underground developments were pushed during 1917 and 1918 and theannual production of the Pechelbronn field was increased to about 50,000 metrictons or 350,000 bbl.

On the signing of the Versailles Treaty the province of Alsace, which hadbeen taken by Germany as the result of the war of 1870, was returned to France, and the proprietary rights were taken over by the French Government.Concessions or leases, which embraced all the known oil-bearing territory ofthe field were granted to the present operating company, Mines de Pechelbronn.This company followed both the drilling and the mining methods of the previouscompany.
Capillary Retention of Petroleum in Unconsolidated Sands
Authors: Uren L.C. , El-Difrawi A.H.
Published: June 2014

Petroleum retained in oil-reservoir rocks after ordinary methods of recoveryhave ceased to be effective is held by capillarity and adhesion, both of whichresist its displacement. Capillarity retains minute filaments of oil in thesmaller pore spaces and acute interfacial angles between the sand grains.Adhesion results in the retention of a film of oil that completely encases eachindividual sand grain. In fine-grained sands and with the more viscous oils, high percentages of the original oil content of the reservoir rock may thus beretained by the operation of these two forces, after the expelling force due toexpanding natural gas has been dissipated. Improved processes designed torecover a larger percentage of the oil content of the reservoir sand must bepredicated on a proper understanding of the magnitude and mode of operation ofthese two forces.

This paper records the results of a theoretical and experimental study ofthe retentive effects of capillarity on crude petroleum in unconsolidatedsands. The physical factors responsible for the capillary attraction of sandfor oil are first reviewed. The results of a series of laboratory experiments, designed to disclose the magnitude of the capillary force operative undervarying sand conditions and with different types of oils, are then presented.The experimental data are next used in the development and evaluation of amathematical formula which theoretically provides a means of computing themagnitude of the capillary force under any prescribed conditions. Finally, several practical applications for such a formula are discussed.

Physical and Mathematical Concepts of Capillarity

Capillarity may be defined as a natural phenomenon by virtue of which aliquid is drawn into and held by minute cavities in a solid substance. It is aforce which is developed by the combined action of the surface tension andcohesion of the liquid and the molecular attractions existing between theliquid and the solid substance composing the walls of the capillarycavities.

It is convenient to explain capillary force with reference to the rise of aliquid in a tube of capillary size.
Some New Aspects of the Gas Lift
Authors: Bennett E.O. , Sclater K.C.
Published: June 2014

This paper is not intended as a theoretical treatise on the gas lift for oilwells, but is written with the object of pointing out a few new ideas whichhave been found practicable and economical for use in this much discussed butlittle used method of producing oil wells. Most of the ideas discussed wereworked out in the Panhandle field of Texas where the problems confrontinggas-lift operation are more numerous and difficult than those found in most oilfields of the United States. One of the principal reasons for the oilindustry's slowness to adopt gas-lift methods is due to the poor results firstobtained in trying to use methods of air lift for raising water in producingoil.

There are so many variables which enter into the design of a gas lift thateach well must be considered as an individual problem and analyzed accordingly.A careful study of results obtained by varying the controllable conditions willfurnish data for increasing the efficiency of an installation that cannot besuccessfully worked out by theoretical equations. The term"submergence" will not be used in this paper. "Submergence" hasbeen used to denote the depth of the lower end of the tubing or flow line belowthe static fluid level in the well. "Working submergence" has been usedto denote the submergence of the tubing or flow line during actual liftingoperations. Both of these have been quantitatively expressed in feet of fluidas required by their definition. The consensus of opinion of many productionengineers is that the term "working submergence" for water lifting withair is inadequate and meaningless when used in petroleum production, since"submergence" never actually exists in a flowing oil well. Theessential factors to be defined are the pressure involved and the rate of flowof fluid into the hole under these pressures. The pressures of importance arethe pressure in the formation, commonly called the "rock pressure," thegas-working pressure, and the pressure on the pay sand due to the fluid belowthe bottom of the tubing plus the working pressure required for the injectionof extraneous gas into the well. The differential pressure causing the flow offluid into the well bore is the difference between the static rock pressure andthe summation of the two variable pressures imposed upon the sand.
The Application of Pressure to the Elliott Pool, Nowata County, Oklahoma
Authors: Roth J.E.
Published: June 2014

Because of the great vogue the pressure application to oil sands isundergoing now, it is interesting to follow the history of the first major airinstallation in the Mid-Continent field. In the spring of 1924 when this plantwas built there were no successful air plants operating in Oklahoma, althoughthree small gas drives were making a success. In Texas it had not been tried atall and so far as we know there were only five successful plants in Kansas.There were 12 failures in Kansas in the Chanute area at this time.

Now, just 2 years later, one finds upwards of 80 plants operating orbuilding in Oklahoma. In Kansas there are 22 successful plants, 7 failures (notmentioning the abandoned plants near Chanute) and 6 building, while Texas hasentered the race and now boasts 10 operating plants.

History of Elliott Pool Up to Time of Air Installation

The Elliott pool of some 605 productive acres of Bartlesville sand, liesmainly in Sec. 3, T. 27, R. 15 E. This is 4 miles west of the village ofLenapah on the Nowata-Coffeyville road and lies just north of the Delawareextension of the Nowata field.

From available records the discovery well was brought in during October,1909, with an initial production of 275 bbl., per day. The pool was drilled upduring the fall of 1910 and the spring of 1911. During this time 111 wells weredrilled, averaging about 250 bbl., per day, initial production. There was agood uniform gas pressure over the pool and some of the wells flowed.

In 1913 vacuum was applied and was probably successful, as it was continueduntil July 22, 1924, when air broke through into two wells causing the vacuumpumps to go down. They were never used after that date.

At the start of 1924 we find 82 producing wells averaging about 0.53 bbl. perday. It might be well to show here how close to the economic limit ofexhaustion this property had come. From a perusal of the available logs we findan average sand thickness of 38.8 ft. divided as follows: gas sand 15 ft., oilsand 20 ft., unproductive sand 3.8 ft.
Summarized Engineering Report on the Powell Field, Navarro County, Texas, with Special Reference to Water Problems and Corrective Work
Authors: Hill H.B. , Sutton Chase E.
Published: June 2014

The detailed study of this field was made primarily to obtain a betterworking knowledge of the major features, involving structural conditions, character, and nature of the Woodbine pay sand, and the source of water.

The outstanding features in the development of the Powell field are:Rapidity of development;close spacing of wells;high initial yield ofwells;high peak production of field;sharp decline, andearly andrapid encroachment of water.

The nature of the field is also of special interest in that the Woodbineproduction is found at an average depth of approximately 3000 ft. in acomparatively narrow strip, approximately 7% miles long with an average widthof half a mile, or probably 10 locations wide. The surface elevations vary from300 to 440 ft. above sea level.

The oil is trapped between the fault on the west side, edge water on theeast, north and south, and a bottom water of high head and large volume on thehigh part of the structure. To recover this oil is a problem of great interestand importance in the development and operation of this type of field.

The subsea depth to which wells can be drilled with safety during thedevelopment period, is usually well defined by early completions and variesonly slightly over the entire productive area of each field. Controlling andhandling the water during the later producing period is the major problem ofthe operator.

Powell field shows primarily the effect of flooding by water incomparatively loose sands in a high flush production field.

This field offered an excellent example not only for studying the effects ofrapid drilling and development and the far more difficult problem ofencroachment and migration of water through a productive sand, but also forobserving and calculating with certain assumptions the percentage of recovery.It is not possible to determine the part of the high yield per acre thatproperly might be credited to rapid drilling versus the part recovered byflooding or washing the sand.
Mechanical Installations for Gas-air Lifts in the Seminole Area
Authors: Swarts Clifton R.
Published: June 2014

The use of compressed air or gas in oil wells for raising crude oil to thesurface has, within the last year, become a dominant factor in productionengineering. Previous application of this principle was largely confined to oilwells that had been pumping for a considerable length of time. In the Seminolearea, the gas-air lift has been applied to wells immediately after natural flowhas ceased and in some cases while the wells were still flowing. This earlyapplication of the gas-airlift has been watched with intense interest by thepetroleum industry, both with respect to methods of application and mechanicalinstallations and to the effects on immediate and ultimate production.

Methods of Application

The Seminole pool at its inception contained sufficient gas associated withthe oil to cause natural flow. As no free gas was found in the main productivehorizon, the Wilcox sand, all the gas present was dissolved in the oil, hencethe natural flowing life was short, rarely lasting over 45 days. When naturalflow ceased, high fluid levels were common, and as depth and crookedness ofholes were obstacles to efficient pumping, the gas-air lift was used almostexclusively in raising the oil to the surface.

Because of the high gravity of the oil, 41? A.P.I., and its high gasolinecontent, and also because of the desire to obtain production before offsetwells became productive, quantity of production was the aim of the operatorsand a method of flow was used whereby this aim could be fulfilled. One of theoutstanding features of this method consisted in flowing the wells through theannular space between the tubing and casing. By this means a greater quantityof fluid could be handled than by flowing through the tubing of the size inordinary use. Wells that would produce only a few hundred barrels on the pumpwere by this method made to produce as high as 7000 bbl. on the lift. A fewdays or weeks of production at that rate meant a large recovery of oil.

Casing of 6% in. diameter was commonly used as a production string with a5316-in. liner set on top of the oil sand.
Mechanical Installations for Gas-lift Pumping as Practiced in the California Oil Fields
Authors: Miller H.C.
Published: June 2014

The gas-lift method of flowing oil from wells is the outstanding feature ofpetroleum technology today. Its forerunner, the air-lift, was used successfullyfirst, in the Baku fields of Russia, in 1899, and later in the Gulf Coastfields of Texas and Louisiana and the Kern River field of California. It isstill used to a limited extent in certain oil fields. The use of compressednatural gas for lifting oil from wells has supplanted the air-lift method in ameasure in those fields where a sufficient quantity of gas accompanies the oilto make the gas-lift possible, or where natural gas is plentiful andinexpensive. We find, therefore, in California, that natural gas is used atpractically every well where a gaseous medium is employed to flow the oil.

The use of natural gas has many advantages over that of air. It is possibleto recover and save the gasoline from the gas that accompanies the oil to thesurface. This gasoline would be wasted if air were used as the lifting medium.Also, certain proportions of air and gas form an explosive mixture that cannotbe handled safely by compressors. Another advantage that gas has over air isthat gas under pressure is more soluble in oil. Gas in solution in oil reducesthe viscosity of the oil that is being produced and causes it to flow morereadily through the tubing and flow lines.

The gas-lift has made it possible to recover many thousands of barrels ofoil from deep wells in California that could not have been produced otherwise.It would not have been economical, had it been mechanically possible, toproduce such wells as the world's deepest producing oil well (Miley Athen'sNo.6, Rosecrans field, California) by any other method of pumping known today.At this well, production is obtained from between 7305 and 7591 ft. and 11months after completion of the well, production was being maintained on thegas-lift at approximately 2000 bbl. a month,

The crookedness of the hole, or its diameter and depth will not prevent thesuccessful application of gas-lift pumping when other conditions arefavorable.
New Developments in Air-gas Lift Operations in the Mid-Continent Area
Authors: Millikan C.V.
Published: June 2014

New developments in air-gas lift practices in the Mid-Continent area sinceour Fall meeting in Fort Worth have done much to increase the efficiency ofinstallations, and thus bring within economic limit of air-gas lift many wellswhich could not have been flowed profitably before. After the gas-lift had sothoroughly demonstrated its value in the Seminole field, its use spread toother areas and many installations were made of which the economy could bequestioned. In the Seminole area, when production began to decline it wasnecessary either to increase the efficiency of the air or gas-lift or to putthe wells on the pump, and pumping was not a process of lifting oil to whichany operator looked forward with confidence. These conditions have resulted inthe development of many practices which increase the efficiency and permitwells to be flowed with air or gas which earlier could not have been flowedeconomically, and wells which have been flowing to continue to a lower rate ofproduction. The practices which have come into more common usage in theMid-Continent area recently are mostly revivals of and improvements onpractices which have been known in air-lift work for several years. Many arepeculiar to the individual well on which they are used.

Intermittent Flowing

Some interesting results are being obtained in Seminole and other districtsby intermittent injection of gas. Gas is introduced during periods of 3 to 5min. at a rate considerably over that necessary to acquire the production at asteady rate of injection, and is then cut off for a period of 3 to 15 min. Twoto five wells are run from the same group of compressors. The total volume ofgas required is sometimes reduced as much as one-third of that required when itis introduced at a constant rate, without changing the amount of oilproduction. The maximum pressure required is usually higher, but the averageequal to or lower than that required for constant rate of flow. The effect onthe wells is usually an irregular rate of flowing which may cause inconveniencewhere recycling is practiced.