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About Ashland American. (Ashland, Jackson County, Or.) 1927-1927 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 18, 1927)
M M * A ^ iìL A .\D U. S. Authority Sees Ample Motor Fuel for Long Future “W E «*jì __ HARRY H ^ m H IL L @ m a r r h c. i w m a w o r ker s in gas MASKS A T A N O I L W E L L ■ ri: aftr [$ é -' :fr4 % M R .H IL L 6 IM P R O M P T U S K E T C H O F AN O IL DO M E E X P E R IM E N TA L O IL SHALE REDUCTION PLANT The U. B. Bureau of Mines is confident that motor fuel supplies trill be ample for mary years to meet all needs of the country's mil lions of automobiles. Harry H. Hill, chief petroleum engineer of the Bureau, here tells the reasons for this conviction, and sketches the advances in industrial methods which justify his opinions. By H A R R Y H. H IL L Chief Petroleum Engineer, United States Bureau of , Salaries of regular professors in It is estimated that about seven Russian universities have been in matches are used daily for every person in the United States. creased to $90 a month. And ...ix — NE reason why th e re is no re a son to w orry greatly about m otor fuel fo r a long tim e ah ead is th a t people are w orrying ab o u t it. In te re st in such a question a t the right tim e, is the b est Insur ance ag ain st d isaster. Tlse P resid en t and th e F ederal Oil C o rp o ratio n Board have done w h at was* needed, at the rtg 'it tim e W e know th a t m ost petnoleum has com e from ra th e r lim ited .a re a s and th a t even from th ese only ¡usm all pro portion has been ta k e n out. Oil pro. d u red by gas p ressu re cap able of lift ing It to the surface when w e drill hole« is b u t a sm all proportion of all the oil contained in th e sands. E ven from the best pools recovery by the o’d m ethod» is sm all, perhaps one- half in the m ost favorable conditions, o fte n e r one-«ixth, o r one-seventh, or one-tenth. But a considerable p a rt of w hat still rem ains in th e ground can be reco v ered by m ethods now esta b lished as technically and econom ically p racticable. Producing oil from coal and shales and by m ining th e oil bearing sa n d s is en tirely possible. E xperim ent« are going on in th e se d irectio n s, and if we ever have to fall back on these re sources we will be ready. For a long tim e, how ever, the p re se n t method« of exploration and drilling, w ith im prov ing processes to a ssu re larg er recov eries, a re likely to suffice. An Oil Dome Illustrated I am no d rau g h tsm an , b u t m aybe I can draw som ething th a t will help ex plain. H ere'« a rough draw ing of an oil dome. T he shaded p a rt a t the bot tom Is a deposit of oil bearing sands— w ith an im pervious rock stra tu m above. A w ild-catter drilled the hole A-B and gas p ressu re caused oil and gas to flow. A fter a w hile the gas p ressu re w asn’t sufficient to keep up the flow and they pum ped until u lti m ately even th is ceased producing. N ev erth eless, m ost of th e oil was still left stick in g to the «and grains T hen th e o p e ra to r d rilled the well C-D, w hich flowed for a tim e, but m ost of the oil was still down th ere In the sand. • If the gas p ressu re could be re sto re d m ore would flow. So the oper ato r in je c ts gas Into one w ell, re sto r ing th e p re ssu re and causing the oil to resu m e flowing from the other. A fter a tim e the flow will stop again, but still m uch of the oil will be left. In som e fields it has been possible to obtain additional am ounts of oil by introducing w ater In som e of the wells and forcing the oil to o th ers. The ad dition of a chem ical such as soda ash to the w ater may a ssist In rem oving t b i ) oil from the sand g rain s, but nci- thi r plain w ater nor w ater containing c ts 'm ic a ls should be Introduced into am oil «and except a« a last reso rt, f o r it is likely th a t the w ater, which tra v e ls fa ste r through th e sand, will get «to the open wells ahead of the oil an d when the fl. w is resum ed under pres sure w ater w ill come out. Ever y t hi ng Saved N o w a d a y s T he gas escaping from an oil well c a rrie s w ith it a proportion of gaso line, which in the old days was lost. N ow adays it is ex tracted from the gas and saved, while the dry gas can be forced back into the ground to m ain tain p ressu re. One of the m enaces to m ost oil pools Is the Inflow of su b terran en n w ater. W a te r flows through the oil sands fa ste r th an oil, and by su rro u n d ing the bottom of the well keeps the oil out. How to sh u t off the w ater and p erm it the oil to run out is a prob lem w ith w hich the eng in eers have long w orked. They have m ade g reat progress and so increased recoveries. In e a rlie r tim es m ost oil producers carefully guarded all inform ation about th eir wells and experiences, but latte rly th ere is co-operation in these m atters. G eologists and petroleum engineers, once derided by the ‘ prac tical" oil m en, are m ore and more accepted as guides and m entors. New know ledge is co n stan tly Increasing re coveries. As to Mining for Oil In L orraine they have dug shafts down to the oil eands and actually brought the san d s out, like coal from a mine. B ut It’s costly. A nother m ining process is to «ink a sh a ft to the oil sands and from its 'bottom drive tunnel« In all directions through the sands. From th ese tu n nels sm all p erfo rated pipes are driven into the sands, which drain th e oil o u t of the sands. It flows to la rg e r pipes back a t th e foot of the sh a ft and thence is pum ped out. T his requires installin g an expensive plant, but in som e Held« the high recovery th a t is assu red m ight Justify the cost. I u n d erstan d th e process ‘s about to be lntsalled in a few fields in th is coun try, some com panies being convinced It is p racticable and profitable. Oil can be distilled from coal, and m uch work is now being done along this line. B ut m o re’appeal has been made by the plan of ex tractin g oil from shale. The shales of Scotland have been w orked for th ree-q u arters of a century, and they are alm o st un lim ited in this country, ric h e r in oil than those of Scotland. K entucky, Now! Only Ohio, Colorado, U tah. N evada, Wyo m ing and C alifornia are p a rticu larly rich in shales. It is ju st a question of the cost of ex tractin g the oil. Con g re ss ha« given $180,000, with w’hich the B ureau has installed a plant n ear Kullson, Colorado, to d istill oil from the Colorado R iver Shales. It Is calculated th a t the «hales m ined a t R ulison will produce about a barrel of oil to the ton. The Use of Oil Shales In S cotland they are w orking shale* th a t produce about twenty-five gallon« of oil per ton. The seam s a re from three-and-a half to eight o r ten feet thick. In Colorado a re seam« m any tim es as thick and containing m uch m ore oil per ton. Reduction of shales Involves an enorm ous m ining o p era tion, and a fte r the oil is e x tra c te d the v ast to nnage of refuse m ust be d is posed of. So it is expensive com pared w ith producing oil from wells. Ben E. Lindsey of the B ureau of Mines E xperim ent S tation at B a rtle s ville, Okla., is confident th at explora tion, b e tte r recoveries, b e tte r u tilisa tion and deeper drilling would fu rn ish enough oil to m eet all req u irem en ts for a t le a st twenty-five to fifty years. If It could be ex tracted in th a t tim e. But as a p ractical m atte r thi« will not be possible. W ithin th a t period th ere will be time« of shortage, w hen oil from shale« will be needed to su p p le m ent the oil from wells, etc. M eantim e federal and sta te govern m en ts and th e industry are co-operate lng in an astonishing range of inves tigation« and studies. T hese activ ities cover such a wide field th a t even an en u m eratio n of them would run into tiresom e detail. ---------------- * ---------------- A seat on the New York Stock Exchange sold recently for $175,000, a record price. New England led the country in savings during 1926, with nearly $500 per capita, the nation’s aver age being $165. The Egyptian government is work ing out a plan designed to reduce cotton acreage in that country by one-third. ‘ >1 VI It is estimated that sixteen billion dollars worth of new life insurance was written during 1926. The Ashland American telephone number is 95. Phone in a news item Down 1 THAT’S ALL YOU NEED TO BUY A COMPLETE 3-UNIT HOTPOINT ELECTRIC RANGE WITH WIRING, WATER HEATER AND HEATER SWITCH T h e C om plete R -95 Hotpoint For the sm all k itchen or apartm ent Only $2.50 a Week Makes it easy to pay for, too! costs but $ 130.00 Including w iring, w ater heater sw itch and w ater heater. Never Before Such a Price and Such Low Terms A t th e b egin n in g o f the 1927 b u ild in g season — just w hen p eop le are planning new hom es and im provem ents on their present hom es, w e o ffer this am azing sale o f 3-U n it H O T P O IN I ELEC TRIC R A N G E S at the aston ish in gly low prices o f $ 1 3 0 each. Our term s will surprise you, too. Just think o f it! O nly $1.00 dow n and just $ 2 .5 0 a w eek puts on e in YO U R kitchen. T he R-95, o ffered at this price, is one o f the m ost con ven ien t of th e H otpoint m odels. It is sm all, suitable for a sm all kitchen or apart m ent, and com es in black v elv et Japan finish w ith w h ite p orcelain enam el splashers and oven door panel. There are 2 1000-w att speed units, on e 1800-w att unit, each 6 V 2 inches, and a com b ination baking and broiling oven— 14x14x18 inches, with tw o 1100-w att units. T h e h eigh t o f the range over all, is 40 inches. Come in Tomorrow-See the R-95 Model on Display! Fischer-Scheffel Electric VAL J. FISCHER Medford Building« Medford, Oregon, H. V.SCH U*FEL Phone 90 .> L