The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1952-06-05

ero%s who 5e looks NOV fOr ali and a bo%
the search is made how land is
o obi drI,a for drilling how 81, hoy wells
found, is moved to refineries that
turn it into more than 1000 products
and finally, just what an oil
boom" means to community: This
article is the fifth in series of
seven.
The first wildcat well to
"come in" in the Montana part
of the WilliSton Basin last sum-
mer was considered by many as
the sign of a new economic
era in the life of the Central
Northwest. The stock market
took note of the new discovery
with spectacular rises. Land
values in the area of the dis
covery followed suit. But the oil
men, who knew what a big job
lay ahead of them in develop
ing afield, took a calmer view.
Developing a new oil field
takes time. In the Williston
Basin, experts had searched for
years before finding the first
drop of oil. Biologists had
studied rocks across most of
the Dakotas, eastern Montana
and southern Saskatchewan.
Then seismic parties had
shocked clues from the earth
with dynamite. Finally, 80 years
after the area had been first
considered - and more than
a decade after exploration drill
ing had first been tried by
others - Shell Oil Company
brought in it's wildcat near
Richey. The oil was there.
Now the job is to develop
the field. This means drilling
more wells in order to define
the limits of the formations
that hold the oil, and then
undertaking the long, difficult
job of getting every possible
drop out for use. Developing a
new field is a masterpiece in
the art of conserving vital
natural resource.
Oil is not found in great I'M
foreground lakes, as many be-
lieve, but in sand or porous
rock. Because of the weight of
everything fluids and formations,
the oil is under great pressure,
often as high as several thouS-
ands of pounds per square inch.
This pressure holds natural gas
in solution with the oil just as
the pressure in a fizz bottle
holds carbon dioxide expands
and the soda water fixes out.
Drive a drill bit into the oil
bearing formation, and the nat
ural pressure moves oil up the
pipe.
When oil men bring in a new
we'll with plenty of gas pres
sure, they top it with a 'tChrist-
mas tree" - a system of valves
and pipes that controls the rate
of flow. The big derrick and all
the machinery are taken away,
and for a long time thereafter,
only the small control appar-
atuS - roughly 10 feet square
- remains. The well will flow
under its own pressure for a
period. This process is repeated
on each successful well in the
field.
Sooner or later, however -
in a matter of months or years
- the gas pressure will drop to-
a point where's it will not longer
have the force necessary to
bring the oil to the surface.
Then the well goes ION the
pump" ...%2-=. =" = :.
How long will oil flow from
new wells in the Williston BaS-
in? The answer must wait until
the, fields have been defined.
And this must wait until many
more wells have been drilled
according to carefully drawn
patterns. In any case, the oil
men will use the most modern
methods in order to produce
the greatest possible volume of
oil with the greatest possible
efficiency. They will control the
rate of production so that nat
ural preSsureS will not be dis
sipated too fast, leaving much
oil underground and useless.
They will space wells suffice
iently far apart to avoid the
waste of unnecessary drilling