Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1901-01-26
OIL INDUSTRY
Of the Philippines Interesting Remarks on
Its Methods Of Production.

A writer in the Philippines gives an
interesting account OF the oil Industry
there
Since petroleum oil was discovered
in the Philippines, a number of inter-
ested parties have devoted considerable
time and money to the locating of new
fields with varying successes. The
present production from the wells is
increasing every year, which is a good
indication that the industry is not lag
ging. The boring plants used in the
Philippines consist Of iron cases about
FIVE inches in diameter, each piece from
10 to 10 feet long. threaded and pro-
vided with joints. so as to make the
proper connection. Inside of this cas-
ing are the sucker rods for lifting the
oil to the top from the bottom of the
well. There are tanks arranged at the
surface, and the oil is forced into these
At first there was considerable trouble
with this method of lifting the oli, and
scrme of the wells were idle for quite a
period before the plants could be got
ten into operation. At one place in
Panay, which the writer visited, ,ney
were unable to rnn the Oil pumps ow-
ing ito the lack of certain parts of the
machinery which were not provided by
the makers of the devices. through
mistake. 1t was necessary to keep
the plant in idleness for several weeks.
until the extra parts arrived. There is
considerable of demand here for
machinery and supplies for use in con-
nection with the lifting of oil to the
surface tanks. l have seen the engl-
neers try to utilize ordinary pumping
machinery for this purpose, but they
have trouble with the valves choking
and refusing to operate. There are
strata of soapstone above the oil de-
pozfts in some places, and 1t is difficult
to penetrate the material The soap
stone itself will some day be used to
good advanta ,,e. and even now some
of the commercial men of the islands
are making considerable money by get
ting the stone out and shipping it to
Japan and other countries.
1t may be interesting 70 note how
the drilling is done in this country.
The writer visited a number of places
where they were drilling new wells
Set poles are arranged for, each pole
beng about 25 feet long, with screw
tip and screw socket on opposite ends
as we'll known to well boring concerns
A derrick is then rugged. and, as fast
as the drilling is carried ON, and the
pole sunk it's length, another section is
screwed on and the work thus pro-
ceeds. There was much trouble eXper-
fenced at first in getting the sockets
with the proper threads, and many of
the Joints proved failures and broke.
But recently they have managed to ge.
some of the proper kind of metal SOCK
cts made, and these have been attached
correctly and firmly. and have seen
wells bored to considerable depth with
out accident. The bit has also been
source cf considerable bother to the
drilling force, but recently some good
tools for this boring work have been
shipped here from America. and am
ong them are bits of good pattern.
Extra bits are carried. so that as soon
as one bit becomes worn or broken an
other is put in its place. The drillerS
force the hole by revolving the pole,
and after much exertion the hole is cut.
The removal of the cuttings Is effected
by means of hollow tube. which Is
lowered into the well. This tube Is
fitted with a valve which opens in
ward, and the loose material is re-
ceived into the tube and held until
forced up and out.
SOME NEEDS.
Machinery is needed here for the bet
ter carrying on of the work at the oil
wells. The plants now in operation In
different parts of the islands are all
overworked, and your correspondent
was informed by some of them that
they could do much more business II
they had the necessary equipments
Well boring devices are needed and IL
these are sent. the purchasers at this
end. are willing to pay good round pri-
ces for the same. Pumps for moving
oil from one ooint to another. Oil
valves of different design should be
provided Casks for carrying oil are
needed. There should be some form
Of oil nnckn oe dnsiened for the Philip-