The Sidney herald., 1957-01-24

cred in commercial quantities iT
1851. | believe that you are al
familiar with the fact that Mon
na-Dal eta Utilities did the first
deep drilling in this area during
the years 1894 to 1888. During
that drilling, oil was discovered
and much new geological informa-
was acquired. That discovery and
the geological information which
was obtained began the chain OF
events that led up to the present
oil development. AS you know,
substantial production is being de-
veloped in eastern Montana in
the Poplar Field and on the Cedar
Creek Anticlime. Similarly, SUBJ
stantial production has been de-
veloped in North Dakota on the
Nesson Anticline and fields adj
jacent thereto. In spite of the
large amount of drilling which
has been done in these areas, ex-
ploration of the huge Williston
Basin has hardly begun. In prep
aration for a talk before the New
York Security Analysts, our MI.
Gamble recently accumulated fig
ures with respect to development
in the Williston Basin as COM
pared to drilling which is taking
place in the province of Alberta,
Canada. He found that in the
Williston Basin area, only one
wildcat well has been drilled for
each ITO square miles and that
is only one-third of the density
of wildcat wells which have been
drilled in the province of Alberta,
Canada. This indicates that the
real exploration of the Williston
Basin has hardly begun.
In the area Immediately ada
cent to Sidney, you experienced a
very active leasing campaign dur
ing the beginning of the oil ex-
element. Some production was
found in this area but because
of the depth of the drilling and
because of one or two dry holes,
exploration ceased and many of
the leases were dropped. Now it
is reported that an active leasing
campaign in North Dakota areas,
east of Sidney, and in the Mon
-tana area adjacent to and west
of Sidney, has been resumed. I
would expect that additional drill
ing will take place in this area
and additional discoveries will be
made. One of the best examples
of this type of development is
the well recently completed by
the Amerada Petroleum Corpora
ton near Outlook. This was the
first well in that area to be car
ried to the depth necessary to test
all horizons and it is reported to
have produced over 2400 barrels
per day. Drilling in that general
area had stopped at the upper
horizons expected to produce oil
and such wildcats as had been
drilled were widely scattered. It
is reasonable to expect similar de-
velopments will take place in the
Sidney area and additional pro-
duction will be found.
This development, of necessity,
will be slow and will extend over
the years. Sidney lies near the
center Of the Williston Basin
and drilling in this area will be
very deep and very expensive.
For that reason it will be carried
largely by major companies or
by major oil interests. Develop
ment will, therefore, be very
cautious and after one or two
wells have been drilled, consider
able delay will probably result
1ue to re-examination of the re-
suits and to probable re-shooting
by geo-physical methods to check
IN results obtained.
One other topic of considerable
general interest, that of atomic
Energy, we will discuss only brief
y. There is considerable curiosity
md much conversation as we'll
IS a large amount of technical
literature available on the sub
ect of electric power to be pro-
Iuced from atomic energy. De-
of atomic energy pow
r plants will, of necessity, be
ute slow. 1t is an entirely new
ield and while there are a num-
'er of different process under
.evelopment now for production
f electric power, none of them
as been tried and proven COM
lercially and the cost of such
rejects is great Furthermore,
UGH rapid strides in the devel-
pment of these processes are
place that in all probabili-
Y the present plants now under
will be obsolete by
ne time they are completed. The
work is largely ex-
So far figures which have been
eleased on the cost of producing
lectric power from atomic ener-
y indicate that the cost per Kill
watt hour will be higher than
he cost of similar power general
i by conventional fuels. 1t is
expected that as the industry pro-
resses and improved methods are
effected, the cost will be COM
etitive. This experimental work
being done largely to perfect
lose processes. One disadvantage
atomic energy is that all of the
connection with the generation
asic fuel must be purchased from
lie Atomic Energy Commission
I'D the residual elements result
g from the use of this fuel will
gain be distributed through the
Energy Commission
means that the anfira ecn-