Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1942-12-05
M Ne00 Nelghb0r--

OF paramount interest to our members
this week was the entrance of Standard OIL
New Jersey into the Cut Bank field Many
expressed the belief that the coming of this
great company to Montana will attract
many other operators. Standard Oil is of
course leader whose judgment is widely
accepted by other majors and if Montana
Is place Of opportunity for Standard Oil,
it follows that it is a place of opportunity
for others.
They were thinking of how during the
past two or three years one Of the Standard
companies moved into the DakOtas, doing
reconnaissance and geOphysicaI work
Within a few months a half dozen other
Majors and fully a dozen large Indepen-
dents were in the DakOtas, spending large
sums Of money on geological surveys, seis-
mOgraph and other geOphysicaI work and
on leasing. There was not a drop of oil in
sight to excite any such rush. 1t was merely
the well known game of follow the leader"
So it is concluded that the entrance of
Standard Oil will release the barriers and
many others will come into this heretofore
forbidden land. 1t is known that for many
years the major companies decided to aIay
off" Montana. All recall how Carter Oil Co.
turned its holdings over to Ohio Oil Co.;
Standard of Indiana turned its properties
over to Continental; Standard of California
sold out to an Independent operator and the
pioneer major companies which remained
became more or less dormant.
The one major that has been active in
Montana since its establishment in the state
is The Texas company and it has no rival
until possibly now, with the arrival Of
Standard Oil It is an interesting fact that
whereas Montana has been without a major
company beIl-weather, leading others into
the state, Montana has had one man who
has led three large institutions into the
Montana oil business, the third Of which is
Standard Oil That man is L. B. Tip
ONeil.
1t was Mr.. O'Neil who with a very modest
start, built up the International Refinery at
Sunburst developed a considerable pro-
duction and sold his holdings to California
Petroleum corporation which in turn sold
out to The Texas company which has made
of the Sunburst plant the largest refinery
in Montana. The Texas company was the
only major company which recognized the
possibilities of the Cut Bank field and
capitalized it.
However, MIR. O'Neil turned his attention
to. Cut Bank after he sold out at Sunburst
gas wells and induced the conservative Mon
tana Power company to engage in the
natural gas business Mr. O'NeiI sold his
extensive gas holdings to Montana Power
which formed Montana Power Gas Co.
and then discovered that many Of its lease
holdings were not gas acreage hut valuable
oil lands and so a large Montana institution
was drawn into the oil business as enc Of
the three top ranking producers, under the
name of Glacier Production company
After selling the gas business, Mr.. ONeiI
turned his attention to the dOwn-fIank dis
trict of Cut Bank where he believed there
were greater opportunities in oil develop
ment and proved 1t by securing the large
acreage block that gave birth to Santa Rita
Oil & Gas Co. That company was financed
publicly and Montana people were given OPP
TO share in the enterprise, so 1t
is again purely Montana institution. When
he lacked a market for his crude he did
just as he had done under similar cIrcum-