Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1927-02-24

NE reason why there is no rea-
son to worry greatly about
~ motor fuel for long time
ahead is that people are worrying
about it. Interest in such a question
1t .Ae right time, is the best insur-
ance against disaster. The President
Board have done what was needed, at
the right time
We know that most petroleum has
come from rather limited areas aud
hat even from these only a small pro
portion has been taken ont. Oil pro-
duced By gas pressure capable OF lift
ms it 20 the surface when we drill
holes is but small proportion Of all
the oil contained in the sands Even
from The best pools recovery by the
old methods is small. perhaps one
half in the most favorable conditions,
oftener one-Sixth, or ena-seventh, or
one-tenth But a considerable part of
what still remains in the ground can
be recovered by methods now es1b-
lished as technically and economically
practicable
Producing oil from coal and shqles
and by mining the oil bearing sands
Is p,irely possible Experiments SIRE
rotng on in these directions. and if We
ever have to fall back on these re-
sources we viii be ready. For long
'ime, however, the present methods of
exploration and drilling, with improv-
ms. processes to assure larger recov-
cries. are likely to suffice.
An Oil Dome illustrated
am no draughtsman, but maybe
can draw something that will help ex-
plain. Here's a rough drawing of an
oil dome The shaded part at the bot
tom is a deposit of oil bearing sands
with an impervi0us rock stratum
above. A wild-eatter drilled the hole
ALB and gas pressure caused oil and
ga. to flow After a while the gas
pressure wasn't sufficient to keep up
the dow and they pumped until ulti-
mataly even this ceased producing
Nevertheless. most Of the oil was
still loft sticking to the sand grains.
Then the operator drilled the well
CD, which flowed for a time, but most
Of the oil was still down there in the
sand II the gas pressure could be re-
stored more would flow. SO the oper-
ator injects gas into one we'll restor-
ing the pressure and causing the oil
to resume flowing from the other.
After time the flow Will stop again,
but i'll much of the oil will be left.
In some fields it mas been possible to
Nbtain additional amounts of oil by
introducing water in some OF the wells
and forcing the oil to others. The ad-
dition of a chemical such as soda ash
to the water may assist in removing
the oil from the sand grains, but nei-
Their plain water nor water containing
chemicals shvIld pc introduced into
an oil sand except as last resort,
for it is likely that the water, which
travels faster through the sand, will
get to the open wells ahead OF the oil
and when the flow is resumed under
pressure water viii come out
Everything Saved Nowadays
The gas escaping from an oil well
carries with it proportion of gaso-
line, which in the old days was lost.
Nowadays it is extracted from the gas
and saved, while the dry gas can be
forced back into the ground to main
tain pressure.
One of the menaces to most oil
pools is the inflow Of subterranean
water Water flows through the oil
sands faster than oil, and by surround
ing the bottom OF the well keeps the