Evening star., 1951-09-16
North American:
By Fred Theroux

In trying to regain the Iranian oil
loss, the obvious first step for our
Petroleum Administration for De-
fense was to boost domestic produc-
tion. United States fields, already
running at the highest level of pc
troleum production in history, have
been called upon to expand output
as much as possible. with maximum
efficiency in the operation of pres
emily producing wells and with maxi
mum initiative in seeking new
sources. To bolster the drive for in
creased domestic production, PAD
assured operators of complete sup
port for any requests to State agen-
cies for increases in the "allowables,"
or quotas, set by the various oil-pro-
ducing States some years ago in an
effort to conserve oil resources.
PADS second step, insofar as the
North American continent is con-
cerned, was to see what could be done
to help boost the oil production of
our neighbors in Mexico and Canada.
Travelling Secretary
Mexico offered hopeful signs when
Secretary of the Interior Chapman
made flying trip there recently. The
Secretary, who also is head of the
PAD, had to know what level of pro-
duction the Mexican wells were able
to reach with existing wells and pros
pective developments. He found the
situation encouraging. Mexico's ma
tionalization of American owned
wells was an issue not raised in his
talks.
Mexico has been producing only
215,000 barrels of oil day, but the
Secretary found the properties now
are producing efficiently. Prospecting
for new fields is lively. With the Ut
most in increased production from
existing fields. and 65 new wells in
process of development, Mexico bids
fair to increase its production sharp
ly in the months ahead The one
serious lack in the Mexican picture
is that of equipment and supplies
for new wells steel pipe. tanks,
drilling machinery. PAD will do it's
utmost to supply those needs.
Canada is an even more encourag-
ing story. Long thought to be devoid
of major oil resources, Canada has
been an oil-importing nation for
many years. But in February, 1947,
an experimental well blew in" at
Leduc, about 20 miles south of Ed
monton in the province of Alberta.
Since that historic day. more than
three-quarters of a billion dollars
have been spent in prospecting for oil
in Canada, and over 1000 producing
oil wells have been drilled. Refinery
capacity has more than tripled, and
a transportation system has been
created which delivers crude oil to
ref1nerieS in a quantity sufficient to
make up for one-third of the Cana
dian requirements for oil formerly
supplied from the United States.
The Ledue discovery was no acci-
dent. Efforts had been made over a
long period Of years in Alberta to
locate a major source of petroleum,
after the first small oil strike" was
made in the Turner Valley in 1886
Since then, the famous Redwater
and other wells have been success
fully brought in, surprising Leduc
in capacity. Prospecting continues in
the prairie provinces and in British
Columbia. In the past four years.
Canada's estimated oil reserves have
increased to about 1.2 billion bar
rels-25 times as much as estimated
reserves at the time of the Leduc
discovery. Biologists believe Canada's'
western basin may hold petroleum
reserves of over billion barrels,
with potential reserve several times
that figure.