Evening star., 1928-03-26
SAVING Of NATURAL
GAS BIG PROBLEM
Shutting In of Wells One
Method Being Used at Ven-
tura, Calf. Field.
BY J. c. ROYLE.
sraual Dispatch ,o The star

Special Dispatch tp The Star
NEW YORK. March 26.-Hundreds
vi millions Of cubic feet Of natural gas
are going TO waste daily in the Cali
fornia oil fields. Immediate steps are
being taken 10 conserve this supply.
The loss is SO acute that ii has become
somewhat difficult TO determine whether
the natural gas or the oil from the
wells is Of the major Importance.
Ten thousand of the twelve thousand
barrels of crude oil per day are being
shut in in the Ventura field to save
waStage of natural gas. In addition,
the oil companies are going forward In
their poposal to shut in $4,000 to 10000
barrels per day in other fields. In 1927
Shut-in production of oil amounted to
from $4,000 to $4,000 barrels a day,
and SO far this year the Shut-in pro-
duCtion has been equivalent to about
$4,000 barrels daily.
The shutting in Of oil and gas In CAL
ifornia has been practiced for some
years in order TO stabilize prices and
reduce the high cost of storage of oil
and oil products on the surface. The
erection of steel tanks and insurance
against fire has proved exceedingly
costly But despite this action, stocks
Of crude oil have mounted steadily,
antil they now exceed l4l 100000 bar
yels.
Tremendous Waste of Gas.
The Ventura action was instigated
by State officials, who called attention
Of the property owners to the tremen-
dous waste Of natural gas owing TO the
DIG oil production In that field. Nor
Of
low Of abou: l80, coo 900 cubic feet OF
natural gas per day Available pipe
lines TO Los Angeles, the consuming
center, carry only about lI5,000000 feet
Of gas. There is demand for that
amount only, so that additional pipe
lines are not practicable The COM
panies therefore. have agreed, as a
temporary eXpedient, 70 shut III 10000
10 10000 barrels of oil a day.
Their proposal TO shut in $4,000 TO
so 900 barrels Of oil additional in other
fields is also tied up with gas wastage.
but State officials have nothing to do
with such agreements. Necessarily
these agreements must be cooperative
and such Is impossible in some fields,
like Huntington Beacon and Long
Beach. where so-called town lot"
drilling is practiced 1t is feasible, how
ever. when a Few companies own large
areas.
OIL company authorities point out
that the shutting in Of oil production
as practiced does not serve TO raise
prices or 10 keep prices high, but
rather 10 lower them since it makes
storage less costly and insures nor
nal supply and normal prices in fu-
ture years.
Exaggeration of Other Problems.
The question Of violation Of anti
trust laws has never been raised In this
connection.
The Ventura natural gas wastage is
simply an exaggeration Of similar
problems in other oil fields Southern
California is now using all the natural
gas it can consume and millions Of
cubic feet are going 10 waste daily.
The situation in California has been
naturally agitated by the loss Of cer-
tain markets, which have been flooded
with the heavy supplies Of crude Gil
and refined products from the Mid
continent and South American fields.
The heavy tourist season IN the West
is near. however. and the demand for
gasoline and lubricating oil Is increas-
ing. An advance in gasoline prices in
California is predicted