The Carbon County news. [volume] (Red Lodge, Mont.) 1924-1931, 1928-02-09
BILLINCSLIKELY
MILLION DOLLAR
REFINERY SITE
Announce Plans for Starting
Construction Within
Sixty Days

the Billings Gazette, A s1,00O,OOO re-
finery. capable of handling lO,00o
barrels of crude oil a day probably
will be located in Billings by the Yel-
lowstone Petroleum corporation, 5. Z.
Ferdie. president, declared there Mon
dav night. Mr.. Ferdig said the re-
finerv would either be built in Bill
lings or between Billings and Laurei
and added that he was virtually Ger
tain the location would be Billings.
Construction of the refinery will be-
gin within 60 days and will be ready
to begin operating in little more
than six months, the oil man declared.
Mr.. Ferdig predicted that with the
establishment of the refinery IN Bill
lings the population of that city would
be doubled in two years.
The Yellowstone Petroleum corpora
ton is the holding company Tor the
Cody Petroleum company and the
Ferdig company. The Cody Petroleum
company recently brought in a well
in the Oregon Basin oil Held III
northern Wyoming and has another
we'll which Mr.. Ferdig said is expect
ed to come in within 80 days. The Fer
dig Oil company operates 90 produc,
inc wells in the Kevin-Sunburst 1ielu
in northern Montana.
The oil which would be refined IN
Billings if the refinery IS located
there would be brought from the Cody
Petroleum companys we'll in the Ore
oon basin. Mr.. Ferdig said a pipe Inc
probably would be built to carry the
oil.
billings. Mr.. Ferdig explained, IS
the logical distributing point Tor tne
oil produced in the Oregon basin. tie
asserted that it was his opinion that
other oil companies operating IN the
Oregon basin would eventually build
refineries in Billings and that the
Growth of Billings would then De
phenomenal.
s.Tbe Oregon basin field, ne SAID,
"will without doubt prove to be the
biggest oil producer in the Rocky
mountain region and one OF the large
fields in the United States. The sand
in the field is SO thick" he said, that
the oil cannot be all taken out IN
hundred years. :,
Billings" Mr.. Ferdig asserted with
vieor, ''is certain to come to the fronC
in the oil business. 1t is the logical
distributing point for oil produced IN
the Oregon basin as the refined prod
net can be taken out in every dlrec-
tion Billings has the railroads and
the highways.
"I wouldn't be surprised" he con-
tinued, 'to see as much oil re1lneo III
Billings as in Casper, Wyo The popu-
lation of Casper increased 15,o0O IN
two wears when the refinerles were
built. expect to see the population
of Billings doubled in two years.
Billings is much more logical
distributing point than Casper. lhere
are two railroads there and three IN
Billings. The country around Casper
is arid. The country around blillngs
is not Billings is the key city to the
entire northwest. This will be a cen
trail distributing point for oil as sure
as the world"
Mr.. Ferdig arrived in Billings
Monday to confer with directors OF
the Yellowstone Petroleum company
and with them to decide on a site Tor
the refinery. He said that three or
four sites were being considered.
Directors of the Yellowston, Pc
troleum company who arrived TO meet
Mr.. Ferdig the same day were j. N
Thelen of Great Falls, J. II. Free
man of Great Falls and George H.
Hines of New York.
The Cody Petroleum company
Klilndt No. well, which was brought
in in December, is now drilling into
the Ten Sleep producing sands and
is expected to hit the big production
area in hundred feet farther down
at a depth of $3.50 feet, Mr.. Ferdlg
said. He declared that the well was
now producing between. 800 and l,ooo
barrels a day in the sands above the
Ten Sleep and probably would FRO
duce 10000 barrels with a gas hit.
Mr.. Ferdie declared that n - are
row ID rigs up in the Oregon ba' Iii
and that three more are being built.
Cody, he said, is not as suitable a
site for refinery as Billings. lie ex-
pressed the opinion that no refiner-
les will be established there. He rca-
soned that tie freight rate on refined
oil. considerably higher than the rate
on crude oil, would make the cost OF
refining the oil in Cody and shipping
it from there greatly in excess OF the
cost of refining it in Billings. He said
that the market for the oil produced
in the Oregon basin will be II the
lolthwest and Canada.
The crude oil would either be piped
Or skipped by freight, he SAID. 1t IS
mite likely, he continued, that his