Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1938-03-26

The February statistics Of Mon
/ tana crude production were await
] ed with great interest by members
I of this committee and today we
have them from the records of the
Oil Conservation Board. We find
that whereas there were S,701
barrels of Montana produced oil re-
fined in this state in February,
1887. the month of February, 1898,
saw. the refining Of 100000 barrels
of crude.
These facts pretty definitely ans
wer the claims of importers that
this campaign is accomplishing
nothing. 1t is furthermore an in
teresting fact that February, 1887,
saw the expectation Of $4,000 bar
rels IF crude while only 1900 bar
rels of crude were exported in
February, 1888, showing that the
Montana oil industry has made
long strides toward creation of new
outlets for our crude oil production.
One outstanding feature of the
February, 1888 statistics is the
fact that 27,7S7 barrels of Dry
Creek crude were produced and re-
fined in this state, displacing inn
ported crude. Crude importation
dropped off from 172,007 barrels
in February, 1887, to- 68,983 bar
Iels during the past month. Dry
Greek field. which has been idle
for lack Of a market, produced |
total of nearly $4,000 barrels in
February Of which total 1000 bar
rels were exported. This means |
employment for Montana labor,
revenue for state and county trea-
suries, including a 30 gross pro
duction tax, net proceeds tax and |
other taxes. The 27,787 barrels are
said to have been run by the indie
pendent refinery at Laurel.
The month OF February saw a
decided decline in the relative
amount of imported gasoline as
Compared with the same month of
1887. The list of February impor-
tation is as follows:
February Imports of Gasoline
California Co.,. PATIO gallons
Park Refining CO.
Cody...,............ 2O,O15 gallons
Continental Oil Co.
.........-......46O.4 44 gallons
Standard Oil Co....-556,835 gallons
socony Vacuum Co. 171.2ss gallons
Shell Oil Co.-.---..-.193,98 $50 gallons
Oil Co... 3S,205 gallons
Phillips Petroleum 2O,560 gallons
All others 32,276 gallons
Total. .....-..-....1,5 17.773 gallons
The most important event OF the
ast week was the holding OF a big
Montana-made rally at Waller in,
with the reorganization
If the Commercial Club of this
thriving Pondera county city. Fol-
owing is an account of the discus
lion of Montana-made products
which appeared in the Valierian.
The guest speaker Of the evening
Mr. J. N. Thelen, of Great Falls,
vas introduced by Attorney w. L.
and made a most interest
ng and enlightening talk on the
General topic of 1.-the Truth About
he Montana Oil Situation" in !
which he pointed out the import
nee of the oil industry to Montana,
md the necessity for support of that
by Montana citizens
through the program of buying
,asoline made from Montana crude !,
ii.
At the outset Mr.. Thelen made it
lain that he was waging this cam
Iaign for use of Montana products
lot as the representative Of the
fontana oil refineries, or any other 4.
roup, but as an individual Mon /.
anan, interested in the development :
+ the state
He traced the development Of the
II fields Of Montana, from small
back in the early part OF :
go, when a few courageous ex-
lorers. headed by Gordon Campbell,