Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1939-11-18
DICTATOR Is

N&NnAAMAEA AAAAa n at 0A-~t
the officials who are advocating
it.
The navy department approved
the bill-except for provision as
Stunning control over naval reserves ss
David Hudson, Assistant Sollcl-
tor OF the Interior Department. IN
response to questions by members
OF the subcommittee made STAT
ments covering the following polhes'
The voluntary agreements proNiu-
ed in this bill would only be elhee-
tive if the Commissioner approved
The bill was drafted by the Pet
roleum Conservation Division, BUT
eau OF Mines, Geologic Survey anu
representatives of the Interior De-
partment and reviewed by Solicitor
Nathan Margold OF the Department
No appeal is provided from the
discretionary power Of the Commits
sioner. Neither is there any direct
recourse il the Commissioner abused
his power or became dictatorial.
While the Federal authority would
not have the right to set aside
state order. il the Commissioners
found waste would exist. his regu-
lation might be more restrictive
than the state order.
Findings of facts by the
Commissioner must be accepted
by the courts, according TO the
terms of the bill.
The final determination as TO
what is and what is not will be
made by the Commissioner.
The bill gives the Federal
authority power to determine
waste regardless of the state au-
thority on that point.
The bill would apply to naval OIL
reserves.
Regulations of the Commissioner
would be the controlling factor In
production control.
II the states did not change
their regulations to conform
with the Federal ones, the
Federal regulations would pre-
vail.
H. D. Miser. Geologist of the
~. S. Bureau of Mines, gave the
following information in response
to questions by members of the
subcommittee:
It is anybody's guess how long
OuI UELAOiGAll AGHNl NEH Will 4eA1t-
Present known reserves are at
their highest point in the history
of the industry
The Government has not made
any estimate of its own as to pet
roleum reserves since 1884.
The witness was unable to answer
how much of the increase in esti-
mated reserves was due to in
creased expected recovery resulting
from improved methods Of produc-
ton
We will probably find new re-
serves as long as we need them.
Twenty-Five hundred to three
thousand biologists in the petrol
cum industry are spending their
time hunting new sources of oil
and improvement of methods.
TIL witness was unable to answer
the question as to what are the
present wasteful methods in pro-
duction nor another asking what
Federal order or regulation under
the bill would prevent waste in pro-
duction
Stocks as low as 2O5, 900. 900
barrels would be sufficient
Currently there are 213.OOO,OOO
barrels OF refinabIe crude stocks
which is close TO the actual
working minimum.
1t is not quite fair to assume
that sterilization is not related to
conservation since the price might
fall so low that wells would be lost
If storage amounted to 50,000,000
barrels instead OF EOS, 100000 bar
rels, economic waste would result II
physical waste did not
The bill deals only with physical
waste.
It is doubtful whether there
would be an increased demand due
to present conditions" since this
would depend on the amount of in
crease in output from foreign coun-
tries; any possible increase should
be considered conservatively.
A. G. Fieldner, Chief of the Tech