New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-02-20
Britain Seeks
Oil I'm All Parts
OF Her Lands
Mackenzie River Field i'm
Canada Is One i'm Which
the Empire Now Is Re-
posing Considerable Hope
Persia Supply Important
English Scientist Says if
Biologists Are Financed
They'll Find Petroleum
From. The Trsbsne's garopea~ Bu-eaa

From The 7rfbHne'a bAropen" 6NTea@
LONDON. Feb. l2.--With the United
States producing more than so per cent
Of the total petroleum supply of the
world, England is surveying anxiously
its dominions for fields where oil pro-
duction can be established. 1t Is rela-
lively a brief time since oil became an
industrial factor. To-day it is as In
trinsic a part of the fabric of ctvlliza-
ton as iron, coal or cotton.
English experts, who assert that the
Empire produces only 8 per cent OF
the worlds petroleum production, con-
slider the development Of oil fields one
of England's greatest problems, They
know the present lack of direct control
of oil sources Is handicap to England
and will be greater handicap as the
use of oil grows In sea and air trans
mort. Mesopotamia il not "a military
adventure" to them. The possession OF
the oil there is vital national need.
Oil Ia q political and national issue,
great nhase of the struggle for sur
vtvsl among nstions.
Plenty To Be Found
(3eo,oxists who have followed the
Growth Of petroleum exploitation hold
orA bona in the declaration that the
present activities shave only tapped the
worlds great reservoirs Of oil. they
COW that infinite unknown stores are
st;l, to be discovered in all parts OF
the world. George Howell, F: g .,
FR G. s., of the Institution of Petro-
Ieum Technologists here, be!ieVes Ihae
the solution of England's oil proolem
lies in the discovery and development
s nau colds rather than III compe-
tition for the sources no" peins
worked. =, ,.,.. IN
aeononce is helpful in the discovery
81 new sources" said Mr.. Howell.
"Tbere is to-day great need Tor
skilled biologists, backed by unllmlt veg
canital, who will cut their way through
search barren desert lands or even
exnlore the Arctic regions. Ten years
ago, to suggest the Arctic Zone as
netroliferous would have been court
inc sanatorium--a suggestion OF a
5emented scientist To-day, however
we find Alaska Is quickening to add to
the petroleum supplies Of America; II
has been disgorging oil from many
places in that region Now, through
these facts becoming known, che terri
tory which interests US most, the
northern territories of Canada, are be-
ino more systematically explored FOL
netroleum. The end of last year 6
vast region in the environs OF ths
Mackenzie River gave serious lnolca
tions that this region was rich IN OH
suggesting one of the greatest oil fields
in the world.
On Mackenzie River
"Under DR.. Bosworth an exploring
party set out to- discover the highly
petroliferous character OF the nelgh
borhood, and were able to declare the
basin of that river petroliferous.. Al
Fort Norman, on the Mackenzie River
we'll has been brought in giving al
initial flow of 1000 barrels day, a.
a comparative shallow depth of S0S
feet The oil is Of very high grade
of paraffine base-not asphatic base
as had been reported.
TT is contemplated, under STANDARD
Oil auspices, to build pipe lin'
across the Yukon, through Alaska t.
the Pacific Coast, and there make
large and important oiling station ant
port.
'The well referred to is the first wei
in the Northwest Territory, PROVING
not related at all to the Calgary OF
1t is nearly 1000 miles away from Cal
gary. This Ia region comparable wit
Mexico or Oklahoma-there will
many oil fields. 1t is the largest OF
region in the empire, and quite pos
sibly the largest in the world"
In the Himalayas
Biologists also will turn to explors
ton of the Himalayas, Mount Nero an
the Andes as oil sources, according
Mr. Howell. He believes that oil wi
Ganges, the Brahmaputra, Irrawadd
and the Nile, and along seaboards {
the Arabian Sea and the Pacif
Straits. The West Indies have alread
produced oil, and suggest possib
large resources. The first drilling VIZ
begun in Trinidad in 1902, and sine
then the oil production has been stead
and relatively large. Here the OF
vary in gravity from 0.975 to o.81
giving from 4 per cent petrol up to 4
high as 40 per cent.
Australia, as yet not big oil pr
Queer, has possibilities. In Queen
land borings were put down at Rom
and oil gas was struck.
England is not without q future 1
petroleum source, as Is shown
the famous Hardstoft we'll, which yielt
an oil of high specific gravity. Son
500 tons of this oil were sold by II
: government to the Anglo-American o
Company, who paid s22 los a ton for i
The yield at the present moment
not large, but Mr.. Howell believes tn
this small yield should not discourse
pioneers from further testing the stru
lures of England for oil.
At one time Russia produced 81 o.
cent OF the worlds oil supply. Anne
lea has SO developed that she hi
passed Russia and is now the large
producer. But Mexico follows clio
behind. On September 80 last Mexi
has In nine months produced more thu
102 million barrels of various oils fro
her territories. This, however, WI
only accomplished after forty years
failures and disappointments, durir
which time every one said that Mexi
would never become an oil factor.
Persia Has Petroleum
Persia has always been known
possess natural oil, particularly in Il
KarUn River section. England is pa
ticularly interested in the future pc
sibilities of the Anglo-Persian o
Company on account OF the shal
which the government has taken in i
support. Realizing the need for SAT
guarding the oil supplies of the Max
as well as encouraging British ente
prise to seek out sources of oil for IL
arounmfe pa0de of the eranira he on,