Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1937-12-11
HEARING IS
CONTINUED
UNTIL JAN. 4

The hearing on proposed prora.
tion Of north Montana oil fields has
been continued until January 4
1888, by the Oil Conservation
Board Of this state, following ad-
journment last Saturday morning
The terms of office of all mem
bers Of the board expire on Janu-
airy s, four days after the hearing
resumes. The hearing will require
"a week or more to complete presen-
tation of the petition of Cut Bank
producers and thereafter the case
Of those in both fields opposed to
lproration.
! Oil producers are said to be shift
ling the battle front by concentrating
Ion the matter Of the membership Of
the new board and producers say
that they viii stout1y oppose the
appointment of refiners to the new
board. Four of the five present
members are both producers and
lrefiners and are buyers of so per
lcent OF the north Montana produc-
ton, according to producers who
claim that the board should be
composed Of at least a majority of
producers. The board will be APP
lpointed by Governor Roy Ayers
the present members will continue
in office until their successors are
named and qualified.
The closing sessions Of the hear
ing found E. Byers Emrick, inde-
pendent petroleum geologpst, on
the stand. Emrick refused to take
sides with regard to proration,
answering technical questions re-
garding the water table of Kelvin
Sunburst oil field and the effect
of water on the ultimate prOduc-
tion of this field.
Would Abandon Water Wells
The outstanding assertion by EN-
rick was his opinion that the. large
water wells should be carefully
plugged and abandoned. This is
opposed to the theory Of some OPP
perators who pump these big wells
with special equipment for the pur-
pose of holding back the water
from nearby wells, on the theory
that If the water is not taken off,
all the nearby wells will turn to
water.
There are two forces entering
into the production of oil, he stat
ed These are gas and water Most |
important is gas pressure which is
the chief agent propelling oil into
a well from a porous formation. /
After gas pressure is exhausted, /
water continues to carry oil ahead |
of it, inasmuch as oil Is lighter /
than water, but water invasion in
turn traps part of the oil in the
displacing the oil as
water cones" around a well.
This oil so trapped becomes dead
oil" and can never be recovered
he said.
Cant Exhaust Water
Declaring that It is impossible
TO exhaust the water in this field,
he said that the water table OF the
Sweetgrass Arch stands at 5000
'eet above sea level. Each barrel
of OH taken from the field is re-
placed with a barrel of water and
n some areas water has largely
-eplaced the oil. He said that
waste of gas pressure has greatly
owered the ultimate recovery OF
he field. In some areas the ul-
innate recovery will be only 15 TO
10 per cent Of the content OF the
ormation, he said.
In reply to questions Of the ex-
miners he said that the flooded
reas of the field are not nearly
o great as the non-water areas.
Judge Sam Ford. who is acting at
orney for the State in the hear
ng. requested Mr. Emrick to pre-
are a map of the field showing the
water areas and ''non-water
reas.". Emrick declared that
whereas there are certain pools that
AVE serious water problems the
'ariation in porosity, which runs
rom zero to 25 per cent, has
aved many parts of the central
ield from a serious water problem
nd there Is no problem in the
ewer areas such as the West side,
le said He recommended that the
arge water wells be plugged and
bandoned to prevent further inva-
ion of the oil horizon by the water
rhfch he said is coming in from
he water table below, owing to
he fact that wells have been drill
d through the oil horizon into the
cean Of water.
tcontinued on Page Fivel u