The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-02-05
OIL is KING NOW
Kansas Receipts in 1917 Great
err Than Value of Wheat.
Rentals and Production Esti-
mated at 81 Millions.
IN STATE 3,469 GOOD WELLS
Drilling Shows Up 547 "Dust-
ers" in Twelve Months.
Quality of Oil Better Than in
Other Big Fields.

Kansas oil rentals and refinery re-
ceipts for 1917 were greater than the
value of the years wheat crop. ac-'
cording to statement issued today by
Frank Organ in charge of the blue sky
department in the state bank commits
sioner's office. Organ places the 1917
production at 81. 1856, $50 barrels valued
at rs million dollars. Fifteen. million
acres of land under lease are esti-
mated to return minimum rental of
ID million dollars for the year. or
total revenue of 81 millions to the
state.
Organs figures are most conserva-
tive. His estimates of rentals are
prices paid to land owners alone.
Hundreds of tracts of leases have net
ted owners Broadway prices Even
at the minimum rental of a dollar an
acre, Organ places the return to the
land owner at Is million dollars
Kansas fields rank third in produc-
ton, Organs report showing a daily
output of 325, barrels from 3,469
wells completed during the last year.
Nearly 10000 barrels of daily produc-
ton was added in the Butler county
fields alone.
Find 547 "Dusters''
Records of drilling operations as
gathered by Organ show SAT dry wells
in Kansas last year. A total of l72
gas wells were added in the state.
While no official or department is
charged with the responsibility of
gathering the oil production records,
was compiled by Organ
from records of oil journals and men
best informed as to production and
development
Millions of dollars were spent in
the state during the last year in the
construction of the nine new refineries
and the laying of hundreds of miles
of pipe lines
During the last twelve months nine
new refinerieS were opened for bust
ness, while a half dozen are now in
course of construction, including the
new two and half million dollar
Standard Oil plant at Wichita. Three
refineries were built at Wichita, two
at Colorado, two at Augusta, and one
each at Gordon and Kansas City, Kan.
While Organ makes no estimate as to
the value of these properties, it is
probable they will total twelve to fiji
teen million dollars. Nor is an esti-
mate made as to pipe line and field
equipment valuations.
Kansas oil production jumped from
1S.9S6,669 barrels in 1916 to prac-
tically thirty-eight million barrels in
1917, or an increase of more than
twenty-four million barrels in the
year. In short the state in one year
increased it's output nearly 200 per
cent
Butler County Big Field.
The Butler county oil field is rated
by many experts as the greatest field
in the world at this tins. Surround
ing the Butler county diNtrict Green
wood, Wilson, Elk and Cow1ey coun-
ties showed enormous increases in
production, while some of the older
producing counties further from the
center of extensive operations, showed
a decrease in production.
Analysed from the standpoint of de-
Il ulur@
oil produced, Organ declares Kansas is
the greatest oil producing state in the
Un.o at this time. The field, ranked
with the big fields of the country
some of them including several states
puts Kansas in third place. The
quality of the Kansas oil and the rec
ord of unparalleled development gives
the state first place in aiding the gov
eminent oil production program.
AS compared with the Oklahoma
field, which shows a larger produc-
ton than Kansas, this state is held by
Organ to be easily out in front. In a
comparison of the two fields, Organ
says:
while the Kansas field is third in
the amount of oil produced it is still
in its infancy in development. Okla
homa drilled nearly twice as many
wells as Kansas and while her produc-
ton is a little larger than this state
one of her big producing fields-the
Ii,
for about $1.10 a barrel. while a very
small per cent of the Kansas oil brings
less than 81 a barrel. Then, too, the
Oklahoma field, notwithstanding the
large number of wells being drilled
shows a larger decline in production.
while the Kansas field shows a large
increase.
Gulf Coast Oil Heavy.
1.-The Gulf coast field shows the
greatest number of barrels of pro-
duction, but this is nearly all heavy
oil, and sells on the market for about
$1.10 a barrel at this time"
Organ, who as director of the blue
sky department in the state bank COM
missioner's office, has visited prac-
tica1ly all of the big producing fields
is closely in touch with development
and production in Kansas and other
states. He has investigated stock SELL
ing projects affecting interests in
scores of fields and in a most con-
servative estimate has placed the value
of the 1917 oil production and rentals
at ninety-one milIions-or a value
greater than that of the recent wheat
crop
Following are some figures pro-
duced by Organ showing the, compare
tive production of various oil fields.
Field. Wells. Prod Dry Gas.
Pennsylvania 5,435 $3.50 9S5 1872
Kentucky Tenn. 6J1 .J,G52 All 60
KANSAS ......... 3,469 325,4IO 547 lie
Okla.-Ark. $3.50. CIR 360,S96 :334 400