Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-11-19
NEW OIL GUSHERS
FEARED IN TRADE
East Texas Drilling Opera.
tons Cause Apprehension
in Industry.
BY WILLIAM vOiGT. u.
Associated Press star Writer.

TULSA. Okla, November 1s.-An~
xious eyes are turning again toward
East Texas and II told you 30" Is BE-
ing heard over the land.
For IN East Texas, where the rule Of
dog ent dog brought Esar-disaster 70
the OF! industry. from which II is slow
ly drawing away. there again sppears
the likelihood OF new discovery.
Remembering the ruinouS override.
velopment of the present East Texas oil
fields, and the way the industry nearly
was drowned in the flood of its own
crude, oil men are watching warily the
progress in completing the new Gran
I'LL and Reynolds test In Upshur
County.
Although there are geological tndi-
cations that the new well may turn
out to be a flash" with little oil or
far-reaching effects, it is recalled that
many thought the discovery well of
dad" Joiner was q Flash" also, and
did not dream that it would bring
about the most feverish and trouble
some year the industry ever has had.
wildcat Watched.
Oil men are watching similarly every
wildcat that is being drilled in any
part of the midcontinent area For
each one holds the same threat that
the Joiner discovery and the Indian
Territory Illuminating Oil Co. dis
covery in the Oklahoma City field held.
It may mean the location of a vast new
pool, not controlled by a group or
single company committed to orderly,
conservative development.
If this is the case-then, say oil men.
whatever steps toward sterilization may
have been taken to date will have been
worthless, and it all will have to be
done over again. With the area sur
rounding the discovery in many hands
with each owner or lessee loading boil
ers and engines to the limit to reach
pay dirt" first, and with wells crowd
ing close, it would not take long to
bring about chaos again.
Oil men reading reports from East
Texas newest find recalled that back
in 1928 Henry L. Doherty first adj
vanced the thought that unit or CO.
operative development of oil pools
would be necessary to bring order.
They recalled that the industry's
leaders were told last week in Chicago
that pursuing the present survival-of-
the 1ttest policy would be disastrous
like Noah starting work on an irriga-
ton system instead Of building the
ark"
That a new oil horizon has been
found in East Texas is not doubted.
The difference in gravity between the
oil samples taken from the new well
and that from the East Texas field
proper has proved that.
While 1t was the practice only few
years ago for oil men to become happy
as kids when a new field was opened,
now the news from Texas brings q
frown, and there actually Is found some
Vp1o r1f nxsyt11 I@.,
no great pool discovery.
Geologic Reports.
! This hope is fostered by geologic re-
ports that the producing horizon APP
pears to be the Caddo formation SINH
lar to the North Louisiana structures
that produced flash" results-ti1at is,
contained some gas but little oil and
quickly settled to pumping basis. The
East Texas field proper is producing
from the Woodbine formation.
The number Of wildcat operations in
itself is astounding, in view Of the cur
rent era of heavy storage stocks, re-
lentless pinching in of production
through proration, and comparatively
low prices.
In the midcontinent area today, ex-
elusive of the Joiner, Kilgore and Lath-
rop pools of East Texas, there are 651
going up preparatory to starting oper-
atoms, according to Oil and Gas Journal
figures.
OF these. approximately one fourth to
one-third may be classed as wildcats
or semi wildcats, which would open new
production and new pools If brought to
successful completion.
In East Texas proper there ARE 424
drilling wells and 232 rigs, but few
of these are termed wildcats, and more
than rs per cent are expected to find
production.