The Ward County independent. [volume] (Minot, Ward County, N.D.) 1902-1965, 1919-06-19
Henry N. WILSON
WRITES ABOUT OIL
Manager Of International Oil Co. o
Minot Gives Some Interesting
Data Concerning the History of
of Oil and its Present Uses.

|
Henry NJ. Wilson, manager of the
international Oil Co., of Minot, read
very interesting paper at recent
meeting Of the Minot Rotary, that is
of especial interest, particularly at
this time, when efforts are being made
to locate oil in paying quantities near
Minot:
PETROLEUM.
Mr.. President and Rotarians:
can conceive of no subject that
possibly is of greater interest to you
as whole when intelligently present
ed than is the subject of petroleum,
and trust what l have to offer will
prove of interest.
l feel that l am hardly capable of
bringing to you as telling a message
as some of the papers that have pre-
coded mine, but feel myself in the po-
sition of the English member Of Par
| lament, who, with insufficient prepar-
alton, got up to make his maiden
speech before the House. He began
''Mr. Speaker, conceive" stuck.
He got that far in the next two at
tempts, then another member sprang
to his feet and said, "Mr. Speaker, |
rise on a point of order. The honor
able member has conceived three
times and brought forth nothing" 1t
may be, gentlemen, that can bring
forth nothing, and if that is the re-
suit, your experience will not be I'M
like many others who have had to do
with the oil business, for by their eff
forts and persistence they don't get
even "gasser" but only Cluster"
or "dry hole"
| Petroleum is natural rock oil,
composed principally of hydroLcar-
bons, with bituminous elements, and
essential oils. 1t has long been known
to the human race. as knowledge of
its existence antedates the Bible. while
| early travellers record the worship of
fiery naptha springs in Persia. The
Bible mentions, ''The rock poured me
out rivers of OIL" but Job is credited
with having dug the first oil well. The
people to do actual well drilling. In
were capable Of reaching depth of
more than 1000 feet. Altho many
clever drilling methods have been in
vented in modern times, the oil fra
ternity have finally adopted and stan
dardized to their use two general
types of drilling equipment, i. e., the
rotary and cable tools. The cable
tools are best adapted to wild ca"
wells and are in most general use.
where the formations are rather hard
With this system, which is often spok-
en- of as the standard rig outfit, wells
have been drilled to depth of more
than 1000 feet Most Of you are ia
miliar with the standard rig, which is
the style rig now in use at Des Laos.
The rotary system was perfected in
the Gulf Coast field and has not been
in general use more than Is years. 1t
consists Of perforated @hsh tall" bit
screwed to string Of "drill pipe"t
which projects up through the derrick
platform and is rotated at the rate Of
about $50 revolutions per minute by
turn table. The top joint of pipe,
(known as the grief joint) is square
in order to readily pass thru the turn
table as the hole deepens and at the
same time fit into it as "a wrench fits
a bolt. The tools are suspended at the
top by means Of swivel to the grief
joint"
The rotary bit, like our Rotary or
ganization, is very efficient and under
favorable conditions it will 60 down
two hundred feet in twenty -four hours.
If we'll that is drilled in favor
able locality does not strike a heavy
flow in the oil sand but makes al
smaller production than anticipated,
| it is common practice to "shoot it"
with nitroglycerine. Anyone who
has watched farmers blow up treel
stunps or break up big boulders with
only few drops Of this explosive,
may imagine what the effect Of sol
quarts Of nitroglycerine would pro-
duce at the bottom Of deep eight
inch hole. The flush production Of a
new well is always much greater than
the settled flow after it is several
duction of all the new wells in the
gushers, is almost exactly 81 barrels
per day, whereas the settled produc-
ton only averages four and onequar-
ter barrels. Only large wells flow nat
urally, though various devices can
be used to stimulate a natural flow
AS a general rule we'll that shows
light gas pressure must be pumped
from the beginning and gusher be-
comes a bumper when it falls down
to one or two hundred barrels. 1t is
impossible to lay down any general
rules about the dividing line between
a dry hole and a small well. In Mex
leo we'll making so or 100 barrels
per day is usually abandoned as m-
commercial, whereas there are thous-
ands of wells in Pennsylvania and
West Virginia that have averaged
less than one barrel day for years.
1t is estimated that over half mil
lion oil wells have been drilled in the
United States, and there are now APP
proximately 100000 producing wells |
The first oil well in the United
States was started by E. L. Drake in
1857 and completed on August %,
1859. the second well was completed
in February, 1860, by William Barns
| dali, Titusville tanner, who worked