The Durant news. (Durant, Miss.) 1882-1985, 1953-10-22

gins Anticline may yield oil and
or gas in its swing through Pearl
River, Forrest, Stone and Jack
son counties.
The Gulf Refining Company
pace-setter of the trend toward
deeper drilling, has established
new producing levels in the Bax-
terville field of Lamar and Mar
ion counties and in the $3.50 field
of Jasper, Jones and Smith
counties. Cuffs new well in the
$3.50 field is the states deepest
commercial producer, yielding
hIgn grade oil from some 5000
feet below the older gas-produc-
ing zones of the field. This de-
velopment gave a considerable
boost to deep drilling in proved
fields as a method of expanding
mississippi oil and gas produc-
ton.
Adams county continued to
head the list of counties with oil
and gas production. After q lag
in the early months of 1853, drill
ling activity resumed and the de-
velopment of the prolific, If trea-
cherous, Wilcox formation goes
forward as before.
cAzxav;d> YuS,,aAv-
A total of q Mississippi coun-
ties have some oil or gas pro-
duction within their boundaries.
Exploration work of some sort has
been done in every county, and
drilling has taken place in all but
four. Oil, natural gas or pro-
duct pipe lines - $500 miles Of
pipe = assessed at more than
STA million for ad valorum tax
purposes pass through "a Of the
81 counties.
There are four oil and gas pro-
cessing plants in Mississippi, two
of which are crude oil refineries
at Yazoo City and Sandersville
through which The Southland
Company, a Mississippi enter
prise, processes about ten per cent
Of the states total crude oil pro-
duction.
A plant designed to recover
various hydrocarbons from natur-
al gas is operated by The Calf
ornia Company, Gulf Refining
Company and the Placid Oil
Company near Natchez. After
the liquid hydrocarbons are strip
ped from the natural gas, the
dry" gas is re-injected into the
producing formation to maintain
pressure and assure a longer life
for the field.
A similar plant is operated
jointly by a group of companies
in the Brookhaven field of Lin
coin county.
Billion Dollors Spent
The oil and gas industry's ex-
penditures in developing Missis-
sippi's oil and gas resources have
assumed important proportions
To date, more than one billion
lnew dollars have been spent in
Mississippi as the industry work
ed to raise this state from zero
to tenth national rank in crude
oil production and seventh in ma
tural gas production, according
to E. D. Kenna, executive direct
or of the Mid Continent Oil and
Gas Association.
To this sum, new expenditures
are being added at an annual rate
of nearly $50 million, exclusiv,
of drilling costs. This money
goes into the pockets and purses
of more than 5000 employees Of
the states oil and gas industry;
into the hands of thousands of
Mississippi landowners who re.
ceive royalty payments on pro-
duction or rental payments on
leases; into the accounts of Mis-
sissippi business firms providing
services and material to the oil
and gas industry; and into the
tills of state and local govern
ments in the form of direct tax
payments.
a New Crop"
Oil and gas have become an ad.
ded crop" to many Mississippi
farmers - a source of dependable
income not bothered by vagaries
of weather and rainfall. In many
cases oil and gas royalties, OF
leases, have brought a farmer in.
come from land not fit even fol
the raising Of scrub cattle - land
which had produced little or no.
thing before. Certainly oil and