The Mankato free press., 1923-10-05
VIEWS OF LAYMEN

Mankato, September 3s.-To The
Free Press: The most outstanding
fact before the oil industry today Is
the public's ignorance OF It.. And
the public isn't to blame. Had the
public an accurate .pictire OF the i'm
lo,tant facts OF the oil industry,
IT would not today be giving ear 10
the hue and cry OF various polltlcdi
loving state officials and others VINO
arS loudly demanding that the OIL IN
dustry operate on basis nXsd py
The bargain price OF a comparatively
few cars u gasoline being tnroNn
On saturated market by rehners
who must raise some hard money
somehow or go out OF busin ness and
who stand a fair chance or dong
the latter anyway. -,
The gasoline situation. Is a long
story and nobody has bothered about
telling It; telling about the produc-
er who knocked around over the
prairie or mountains in wen worn
fivver. stalking good bit or MS
fortune" in lease rentals on LAND
that might contain oil nor OF tnst
producer laboring all day and may
be most Of the night managing a
drilling crew that was sinking a hole
into the unknown depths, hall
mile down @. maybe almost mile
at total cost to the producer for
that hole alone OF anywhere from
1000 to S100,000i or more: nor
telling OF that hole being dry and
how II has to be done again anu
maybe again l95 percent OF all wild
cat holes are dry until oil Is found
tn I'M n
the city water faucet Is dry-nor
telling of the pipe line company
that lays big pipe at cost OF $4,000
to $4,000 and $4,000 a mile to that
oil, not knowing il the we'll will last
six months or a year or two years.
Nobody has told that oil being
carried a hundred miles or several
thousand miles to a refinery that
has developed complicated but
highly scientific and economical
method of making that oil into use
full products, nor the tank cars that
haul 1t many miles to bulk sta
tions running in investments all
the way up into the millions: nor
Of the trucks and tank wagans that
take 1t to the small service station
and out to the soda pop stand whSfe
II Is dispensed to the motorist from
a pump and underground tank-the
product OF well trained engineers
who have spent millions to take the
handling. OF that. gasoline safe from
all fire hazard-and the pump and
tank at that soda pop stand is
oaned by the OIL company and re
yestment than the dispenser OF
oft drinks has in his shanty and
entire stock, larger by many times,
Here are the. facts that every oil
ompany, Standard or Independent
hould be telling the public at oNce.
First. There is only limited
upply of oil underground. Scien
lists, we believe. now all agree that
ature long since stopped manufac
uring It. When the present supply
IL gone there won't be any more,
q least of-nature's manufacture.
Two That neither the oil man nor
apy one else knows where that oil
IS. nor how much there is, nor
what kind 1t may be. No one, knows
whether there is enough under
round to last us twenty five years
hundred years or a thousand
ears. AS to quantity. all we can
say is that our best Judgment runs
decidedly against the latter figure
4 in favor OF the first two. There
fore in view of the highly essen
common sense says to make what
oil we get. render as great a service
as possible and use every means al
Cur command to preserve the de
posits that we find,
Three. That an experience OF
sixty years with this previous liquid
gained from drilling more than
half million wells, is that an oil well
once shut in-particularly an old
wells killed forever: Water comes
into the oil formation and the oil
disappears and no way yet has been
devised to find 1t or recover IL.
Four. That there are some 275.-
900 oil wells In this country pro-
ducing 1000, 900 barrels Of. oil day,
or half the total production Of oil,
daily average production OF four
barrels per well. Tens OF thousands
of these wells produce less than a
quarter Of a barrel-less~ than ten
galIons-of oil per day and consid
erably more than half of them pro
duce less than a barrel day. Some
OF these wells are 80 and forty years
old The1majority are much young
er and yet are nearing the end OF
their life. These wells to be made
to produce even this small quantity
Of oil per day, have to be carefully
tended, pumped with expensive |
equipment, cleaned out by skilled |
men and in other ways given the |
care that a child requires. To the |
public all oil wells are "gushers."
It little realizes that the back bone |
of the industry are these small wells |
that require hospital treatment.
Five. That there are a scant 1000 |
oil wells, most OF them drilled in the |
past year, that produce the other |
half Of the country's present producr !
ton or 1000, 900 bbls day OF $50 |
barrels each per day average. Some |
OF these are the big gushers now |
making California famous and that |
have come in for 10000 bbls. day |
each and more. Others are the large |
wells In the new field of Oklahoma |
and Texas Wells decline so per |
cent to 80 per cent within a few |
months after they are brought In |
generally, at all events within
year. 1
Six. Re- state the proposition this
wSy-that half the country.s oh |
comes from new wells that are cur, |
rently drilled and that while everS.
oil man believes that somewhere |
over this broad land there is still a
lot OF undiscovered OIL deposits, |
the only way we can find those de-
posits Is to drill for them at a cost |
Of $4,000 to 100000 or more per