Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1940-07-27

tiOn can change. From a time Of 3
flood of oil for which there was no mar
ket we find an apparent shortage OF oil.
How long that condition will continue
none knows. but it is certain that Turner
Valley is likewise on the decline. Low
cred pressure has removed the possibility
of any more great floods of oil out of
Turner Valley. Under present methods
of operation it viii doubtless continue
to produce more oil per day than do all
the fields of the State of Montana. How
ever, the Canadian market is likely to
need Montana crude to help win the war
and quite possibly thereafter to main
tain large-scale refinery operations in
Alberta and Saskatchewan provinces.
And whenever we think about the pro-
duotion of Turner Valley field, we men
tally glance over northern Montana and
wonder where Montana's Turner Valley"
will be found. Certain it is that some
operator is going to drill some Montana
structure to Turner Valley horizons ana
perhaps into the Devonian, as American
financed Canadian companies are now
doing in Alberta, and bring in field
GREATER than Turner Valley. It is
not impossible. Turner Valley is adj
mittedIy a freak" field, so far as geolo-
gy is concerned, so the finding Of oil IN
more ideal geological conditions is not
at all impossible.
Were a Turner Valley field
brought in what would Montana do
with the on? Would it again mean
the closing of Kelvin and Pondera
markets? Would a 1O,OOO-barrei
barrel well i'm a new field make the
production of present fields unpro-
fitable by sheer competition in the
markets?
We asked this question of an operator,
in regard to Signal Butte structure in
Northern Hill county. He replied that
oil is particularly needed in the eastern
part of Montana and that Signal Butte
oil would not go westward but would I'M
mediately move eastward in new and
important territory 1t would mean the
revival of plans for the construction OF
a large refinery at Minot which is close
to the north central part of North Da-
kota. 1t would mean refineries in pos
sibly Williston and other Dakota cities,
and this crude would move into Canada
by pipeline, since Signal Butte Is 80
miles closer to Regina, Winnipeg and
other Canadian refinery centers THAN
ia Cut Bank. Small production might
furnish problem, he said, but large
production like Illinois, would bring quick
establishment of a dominating market.
IL WOulQ UlBplACC OtnCE ACAAuC0 PAN0N~@S
but through the advantage Of lowered
transportation costs, rather than cut
price competition.
While other Montana oil fields are
establishing their rightful place in the
Inland Empire markets, there is at
present no chance for much eastward
expansion without the development of
large production that will command
lower transportation rates or even justify
a major pipeline project.
None who has followed the kaleido-
scopic history of the oil industry has
any worry about the value of oil in un-
derground storage. 1t is an asset better
than gold or precious gems. Crude oil
is the one commodity in the world that
is due to increase in value, either as
a peacetime commodity or as war
time weapon. It's use is indispensable
and It is the one great commodity that
this country holds as a commanding
power in the world. Montana, as one
of % oil states in the Union is fortunate
to have such tremendous potentialities in
its resources of crude oil because of its
growing Importance.
The man who buys landowners roy