The Glacier reporter. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1953-current, 1961-12-07

viz eNNA OA NAAAo pa avn -
In the letter to Hon. Tom Steed,
Swingley, expressing gratitude
that the committee is looking into
the effect on the domestic oil
industry of the governments pro-
gram for mandatory control of
oil imports, said the tribe, while
not an oil operator, is vitality
interested in the oil industry as
a major portion of the tribal in
come of many members comes
from oil royalties and bonuses
from the sale OF oil and gas leas-
es on lands belonging to the tribe.
Eve are sure that you are
aware that crude oil moving in
overland as we'll as from outside
the continental United States is
non-quota oil so far as the import
program is concerned" Swingley
wrote. Eve are informed that
Canada has no restrictions on the
importation of crude oil and
there is being imported into east
ern Canada large quantities of
foreign oil which of course COM
petes with and deprives the AL
berta and Saskatchewan crude of
its legitimate markets in eastern
Canada and therefore it is being
moved into the United States
and now into this area"
For the past year the oil in
dustry in the area of the Black
feet Indian reservation and the
territory surrounding it has been
definitely in the doldrums due to
market difficulties" continued
the tribal chairman, adding that
the latest lease sale expressed
very little interest and the bonus
bids were only nominal and many
operators who had expressed an
interest in taking leases and drill
ing backed away entirely because
of lack of market for crude oil
"The Continental Pipeline Co
which is owned fifty per cent by
Continental Oil Company and
fifty per cent by Texaco, Inc,
so we understand, was recently
built from Wyoming to Cut Bank,
Montana, on the eastern edge of
the reservation, and within a
couple of weeks of the. compile
ton, Texaco, Inc, ceased buying
crude oil on August /, 1861"
said Swingley. "The Continental
Pipeline Company is not buying
any crude oil but it is generally
known that there are a couple
of independent crude buyers to
whom one has to sell their crude
oil at cut price in order to have
it transported through the line
to any buyer of oil at any other
place"
ITO add further to the detri-
ment of Blackfeet economy, the
Continental Pipeline Company is
extending its pipeline north from
Cut Bank, Montana to Alberta,
Canada, and a newspaper account
states the company plans to pur-
chase or transport for the &C
count of others some 10000 to
$4,000 barrels daily of crude or
condensate oil from the Cana
dian fields" the chairman's let
ter went on. This will, of course,
compete with the crude oil pro-
duced from the reservation and
surrounding oil fields and tend
to depress further our market
and dim future prospects for de-
velopment."
In the appeal to the Small Bust
ness Subcommittee, the Black
feet chairman stated, "Our wells
are small and most are marginal
and we have many independent
operators and if the price of
crude is further depressed and
there is no market many of our
independent operators will go
broke and many of the wells on
cur reservation will be abandon
ed and the oil remaining in the
ground lost forever"
/ He strongly urged that the sub
committee, and Congress- take
whatever steps are necessary to
protect the local economy from
the competition of the Canadian
condensate and crude oil.