The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1922-12-07
OLD OIL FIELDS COME BACK
Fields Abandoned Too Soon Must Il,
Redrilled

Fields Abandoned Too Soon Must BE
Redrilled
Some oil fields whose dwindling out
put seems TO show that they must
soon be abandoned may yield more OIL
in the future than In the past, and 9th
crs that seem dead are likely to be
= resurrectcd, according to X. G. Head
OF the United States Geological Sur
vey, Department of the Interior, who
finds abundant evidence TO support
these statements in recent discoveries
md Developments as well as in work
done by the Survey.
ResuscitatiOn of the TidiOute Field
Only short time ago most oil OPP
orators looked upon the old Tidioute
field in Warren county Pa, as Il field
with little present and less future i'm
portnnce. Such wells as were being
pumped yielded insignificant amour,
OF oil, and the general opinion was
that the field had been so thoroughly
drilled that further exploration would
be futile. One man, however, refusing
TO share the general opinion, chung oh
stinately to the idea that the early
drilling had not cOnclusively proved
that the deep sands below the beds
from which the wells were producing
were barren Of oil. Awaiting his OBJ
portunity he drilled Il deep well. dis
regarding both skepticism and ridiculp
and on August ), 1922. when his drill
bit into the Queen sand, 77O below the
,,,I I'll. 4. i
most of the oil in the district. he o.
tnined Il flow of oil that silenced his
critics and restored to Importance one
of the oldest producing fields in Penn
sylrania. This new well in an old
field yielded 800 barrels day and was
not only the best well drilled in the dis
trict, but one Of the most productive
wells drilled in recent years in the
state
GusI,er in tile Old Unity Field
This successful well III the Tidiou' g
field was still fresh in the minds of the
operators In Pennsylvania when an
other oil field in the State came back"
with an even larger producer. Tn :
well. in the Unity field. Allegheny couI-
ty, which gushed at the rate of more
than 1,4c0 barrels Il day and took II @
tltle OF the biggest well of the year in
pennsylvania" again proved that
drilling i'll old fields is likely to pay if
1t is intelligently directed.
Many New Productive Wells In Old
Fields
Productive wells in old fields are
not so uncommon as the publicity Civ
en- the examples cited above might
seem to indicate. In many field two
or more blooms" have followed the dis
covery either of new oil-bearing beds
below the ones first developed or of gn
extension of the field in some direction
where the dry holes that bordered tie
area that was originally productive
were due to some local concentration on.
TO lack of porocity or some other cor
fition in the oil sand and did not mark
the true edge of the pool The surpriS-
ing thing is not that these discoveries
are made but that they have led to 40
little drilling in search of new sands
and of extensions of pools in fields
PAONhNNibll NluIltu IllilN Ncsl ~
ago that biologists so generally deyo. @
their time to Il hunt for new producing
areas and neglect so much the work
that would lead to the complete dc.
velopmcnt OF Che older fields.
Successful New Wells i'm Western Fields
New discoveries in oil fields are hv
, 20 means limited to the Appalachia Il
OIL fields. In the mid-Continent fields
more than one pool that was apparent
ly nearing extinction has been brought
back to its original productivity bv
some operator who refused to ioin i'm
the belief that 1t had been exhausted. or
by some newcomer who did not sho re
the pessimlsm regarding the future of
the pool that the failure Of test wells
had brought TO the older operators 4
striking example is the Electra pool of
northern Texas, which during the last
year has gained place among the
more productive fields Of Texas after
years of insignificant production. Pools
In eastern Oklahoma have been rcjuv-
enated as one deep sand after another
has been discovered The old fields of
eastern Kansas have been repeatcdIv
extended during the last few years.
largely through the efforts of optimistic
geologists and operators whose study
OF the region had convinced them that
1t had not been thoroughly explored.
Help of the GeOlogist is Essential
y good rule for those who look for
productive areas I'm old fields tx tbot
the older the field the better the
chance thae some oil has been over.
looked Twenty years ago operators
were not so skilIful as they are today.
and they were also much quicker to be
lievc that pool had been completely
drilled up or an area condemned than
they are today. Also, and perhaps most
important Of all, they did not then have
the advantage Of the intensive appli-
cation Of geology to the discovery and
development OF oil that has contributed
so much TO the discovery OF new pools.
particularly In the mid-ConHncnt.
Rocky Mountain and California fields.
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