The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1897-10-18
WEELLY OIL REVIEW.

The past week In the southwest oil
fields was a rather sensational one In a
number of ways The outlook at the
beginning of the week was not very
bright for anything out OF the ordinary,
but tits always the unexpected that hap
pens and such was the case this week.
The first thing on the programme Of i'm
portance was the drop In the price Of
credit balances, one of which occurred
Wednesday and the other on Thursday,
in which the price of crude petroleum of
all grades went down along the line to
the tune of three cents.
For some time as the market had been
looking better than for a year and the
general impression was that there would
be an advance and of course, the opera
tors were completely non plussed and
greatly shocked when they hear that
the market had declined instead of rls-
ing, as had been expected A great many
of the producers had been holding their
oil In anticipation of q rise In the market,
hut they are selling now and cussing
themselves for not selling before and
saving the three cents which they have
now lost.
The next thing OF Importance and the
one thing which next to the declining of
the price of oil to attract more than ordl-
nary attention. was the drilling In Of the
South Penn OIL Co.'S well on Meredlth's
farm near CentrevIlle This well was
reported dry when first drilled In, but 1t
was only on two Of the sands when first
reported In and had not been cased with
the 81 casing. Since then the well has
been drilled in and II Is now reported TO
be making at the rate of about $50 bar
rels day,
There is not the least doubt but that Il
Is a good we'll but out In that country
It does not signify great deal There
has been number Of wells drilled on all
sides of this well and they have either
been very small producers or dry holes,
and the general opinion among the oil
men In the southwest is that the well
will not open up anything Of Importance.
It Is true that there has not been any
wells drilled any closer than mile to
this well, but those that have been drill
ed are n good criterion OF what is to be
expected from that territory
1t Is but short time since the Carter
oil Company drilled In well in that
vicinity, which showed up for about sew
enty-five barrels r day. This company
supposed they had opened up good pool
and at once located number OF wells on
leases they had In that section and some
OF them were drilled. OF the six wells
drilled not one Of them was good for
more than ten barrels a day and none of
them will ever pay out The Big lnjun
sand in that part of Tyler county is very
treacherous and no large pools are found.
. All the oil that has been gotten out In
that section has been found In small
pools with a large amount Of gas and
they blow out very quickly. The opera
tors have lost more money in this kind
of pools in that county than they have
ever taken out and they are little
''leery" OF taking any more stock In that
kind Of territory.
The Cameron, Ohio field has almost
Aunked and It would take an OK team
and the promise Of full indemnity to get
an operator to go into that territory and
put down a well now. All OF the wells
that have been drilled over there during
the past couple of weeks have either been
very small ones or dry holes and the
field has received black eye from which
II will not recover In a long time. The
Fisher oil Company has drilled two wells
on the Grow farm, neither one of which
will ever nay out and Thompson e. Gas
mre have drilled In a couple of very
small producers. Wiley G. Stender's well
| on the Orange Grove tract has also come
In very small and there Is now no way for
the operator In that section to turn. The
original wells drilled In In that territory
are holding up very nicely at about thlr-
ty barrels day apiece, but 1t seems they
| are located In a little pocket and that
there Is no outlet to It.
Practically the same state Of affairs
exists at Wilson Run, on the Ohio side
from Sistersville, and there Is not great
deal OF work being done. One reason
Why there is not work done In that field
| Is that there Is no water
The drought has been the cause OF a
great deal OF inactivity in all the oil fields
during the past month or six weeks and
there Ia less drilling going on now in The
out of the way districts than ever before
In the history OF the state. Nearly all
the small streams are dry and some OF
the larger ones are no low that the water
cannot be used in the boilers The terri
TRY OF the southwest that Is suffering
| most at present Is that IN the deep sand
pools near the Tyler and Wetzel county
lines There Is but two or three strings
of tools running In that territory and
| there Is every reason 10 believe that what
work Ia going on will be shut down In n
few days unless there Is very heavy
fall of rain.
The Elk Fork field has not presented
Nnythlng during the week Of even ordi-
nary Importance, but the coming week
promises to be n lively one especially
IN the vicinity Of the Hin oil Co.'S well
on the j. X. Hi farm, The Hill oil
Company's No, 2 on the j. X. Hin 67-acr5
tract will be due the early part Of tho
week, probably about Wednesday and
the Elk Fork oil and Gas Co.'S No ! on
the j. X. Hill 4O-acro tract n due about
the same time This territory, which Is
southwest Of the original wells In thig
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