Montana oil and mining journal. [volume], December 14, 1946, Image 1

About Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953

Image provided by: Montana Historical Society; Helena, MT

                
STATE OIL
«UNS DROP
IN NOVEMBER
OU prodwtlMi in Montana
itroffed sharply
the «net result
that rendered oil Weld ronde
irnpassable and resulted in the
complete shutdown of large
there of pumping welle In
the Kevin • MUburet and Cut
Ranh field*
An a result, total output for a
November was only 632,464 bat*
rein, an average dally yield of
only 21,063 barrel«, »wording to
a report by the Montana Oil
1
l* November,
of heavy snows
w
In alphabetical sequence, total
monthly and average dally produc
tion of the various fields was as
follows:
At.
Field
Border _
Cat Creek _
Total
1,080
32 798
Cut Bank .. 336',998
11,577
102,154
1,050
— 7,968
1,094
11,233
386
3.405
Creek
Elk Basin
Frannie _
Gage __
Kevin-Sunburst 112,190
I>ake Basin_■
- Pondera __
Sweetgrass Hills
/
35
366
3,740
540
18
25,659
855
150
15
Grand'Totals _632,464
21,083
STEVENSON
PLANS NEW
HILLS WELL
Location fop a new well on
the Arch Apex ntnurture in the
ftweetgrusa hin« area was an
nounced this week by L C,
StotaMOB,
The new well will be Arch Apex
Ida Murray No. 1. near the south
center line of the northwest quar
ter of 3-36N-3E. Rig will be moved
to location as soon as the weather
permits.
The new location is three-quar
ters of a_jnüe southeast of the re
cently completed Arch Apex-Pgrsell
No. 1, which has an estimated
10,000,000 cubic feet of gas from the
Bow Island sand, topped at 2006
feet, and which was drilled to total
pth of 2031.
■ie
primary
tlve of the well to be drilled
Ida Murray lease, though many
ditlona) zones, productive of
and oil in the area, may be tested,
down to and including the top of
the Madison lime.
High-pressure gas plus oil shows
have been found beneath the Mad
ison, in the Devonian, on the east
, ern side of the Sweetgrass hills,
about 20 miles to the southeast, on
Texaco's Utopia structure.
on the
Ml
Alberta Oil Search
Gains New Intensity
■The greatest oil
search in Alberta's history was in
full swing throughout the summer
months, and*is continuing partic
ularly in areas between Edmonton
and the Rocky mountains, it was
revealed in a survey of app
granted by the provincial
ment for petroleum and natural
gas reservations, representing 5,
299,554 acres since Jan. 1.
Not only is the oil search being
concentrated by all active compa
nies, but it is believed some com
panies are securing holdings in the
nope of developing gas for syn
thetic gasoline purposes.
EDMONTON
.1
lications
govern
Texaco In Lime
On Bear's Den
Texaco-Sorrell No. 1, on the south
east flank of the Bear's Den field in
the Sweetgrass hills, this week
made hole to 2985 and is now drill
ing in the Madison lime, topped
2899. Reportedly, this well is to be
carried down for a test of the De
vonian porous zones that yielded
huge volumes of high-pressure
ana shows of oil in Its deep test on
the Utopia structure, about 18 miles
to the southeast. The well now drill
ing is an offset to a well that got a
flow of high-pressure gas above the
Madison.
ga ■
/Jmir-J
IVJOUTII
A\onli
pubushco we ^
ESTABLISHED >»Si
,
Volume 36
Great Falle, Montana. December 14, 1946
Nan
à
%
Rugged Field Crews Continue
Drilling Despite New Storm
\
bring grey hairs to drillers
or California, men in (he
Working under conditions that would
and tool
Kevin-Sunburst and Cut Bank fields this week managed to keep on
making hole, despite another storm that swept down from the north.
As far as could be ascertained, the only rigs that were not running
were those isolated by road conditions of such nature that not even
bulldozers could clear the roads. Snow is particularly deep in the
Cut Bank field and in west Kevin-Sunburst, but as far as reports
this week showed, hole was still being made by many rigs in those
areas.
ill Oklahoma, Texas
Best Structures Already Tested
• ■*
Science Needed to Aid Future
Search For Oil, Crawford View
The day of anticlinal exploration in the Rocky Mountain region
is about at an end, *
Future oil reserves must be found in stratigraphic traps and
buried structures that have no surface reflections—and information
that might be of aid in such a search is woefully lacking, largely
because of the lack of precise information concerning what was
found in wells that have been drilled so far.
I
,
Gulf Records
V alley Leases
The powerful Gulf Oil Company
this week moved further to extend
its already large holdings in north
eastern Montana, recording leases ,
on ac
ner
IX . t in<i *4 i I ri* A L. ^ if n m *■
additional acreage In this
the <**m**nv ha* mwà
. ..jr- ... ■
eastern nose of the Bowdoin dome,
* ear never
fore been active in Montana.
Important Cut Bank Outpost
Wells Nearing Pay Horizons
Despite storm conditions, some important outpost wells in the
Cut Bank field made considerable progress during the week, with
the prospect they may be registered as completions in the near
future, providing the weather gets no worse.
Approximately nine miles north- ^--
west of Cut Bank, and west of any
production in the field, Texaco's No,
1 Black Bear, on the Blackfeet In-
dian reservation in C SW SW
29-35N-6W, has made hole with
cable tools past 2160 feet. What it
finds will have an important bear-
ing on development in this area.
- Some 20 miles south
east of the Texaco weil, A. B. Cobb
this week made hole to 1,000 feet
In his Security State Bank No. 2, in
NW NE NE 1-31N-6W. This is a
(Continued on Page 5)
and
U. S. Crude Output Declined
In September; Less Drilling
A further decline of 46,000 barrels daily reduced the average
production rate in September to 4,790,000 barrels! reports the
Bureau of Mines, United States department of the interior. Declines
of 25,000 barrels daily in Texas and 20,000 barrels daily in Okla
homa, were the only large changes in state output.
*
Texaco 3465,
Bowdoin Dome
Drilling In horizons previously
anetsted in northeastern Montana.
Texaco's deep test on the mammoth
Bowdoin structure this week re
ported hole made to 3465 feet, in
the Madison lime The lime was
topped at 3201. This is a tight hole,
except for formation tops, and dur
ing the week continued to be the
center of a flood of rumors, not one
of which could be verified.
Crawford, head of the Chemical
Laboratories, Inc., of Casper, a
visitor enroute to his headquarte
following a survey trip Into Alberta
and Saskatchewan.
Here is a sumihary of the views
expressed by Crawford;
'"Despite all the analytical work
of.oil companies, state and govern
ment agencies in the past 20 years,
there is a vast lack of basic Informa
rs
tn * t r* number of well» mrmm ami
the location of these wells in Mon
tana - *ouW have regional cor
relations In oil. water and gas
analyses that would be of valuable
(Coottnusd on Pa«» 4)
Rock Creek Bench
Wildcat At 2200
Wildcat of the Rock Creek Bench
Oil Cb., on the Wessen lease on the
Rock Creek Bench structure, near
Moore, is last reported drilling past
2200 feet, with rotary tools, pre-
sumably in or near the top of the
Big Snowy group.
in September represented a de
crease of 92 from August
56 from September. 194.V|
total of 4.087 active drilling rigs
at the end of September was 273
more than on August 31, but 113
fewer than a year ago.
The dally average demand for
domestic crude petroleum declined
, 54,000 barrels to 4331,000 barrels
and stocks were reduced at an aver
age rate of 41,000 barrels dally dur
ing September. Total crude stocks,
domestic and foreign, were 227.818,
000 barrels on September 30, com
pared with 229^223,000 barrels on
August 31.
t and
The
-
O*
CE
WeR®)'
Barrel. Daüy
Respite a break-la of apprr
water, Ralph Chamberlain's
deep sand well on the went
flank of the west dome of the
Cat Creek field 1« still the beat
deep sand producer so far com
pleted on this dome.
- t Is pumping 600 barrels of fluid
v. of which 280 barrel« Is pipe
%.*e oil. with the water reported
decreasing as pumping proceeds. As
long as the well maintains Its pres
ent rate, It Is unlikely that any at
tempt will be made this winter to
re-cement to shut off the water.
Oll output of this one well is now
20 times greater than 10 shallow
wells were making on this lease
before deep drilling started
About 10 miles to the southeast,
on the field's east dome, there were
no conclusive developments during
the
After coring saturation that indi
cated It will be on a par with the
east dome discovery well, which It
offset to the north, BUI Hanlon's
No. 8 Gov't, is drilling out plug
for a test of the Ellis sand, topped
at 1788. 011 was cored In the over
lying Brindley sand, but this has
been cased off for a look at the
lower deep sand horizon
Continued on Page 3)
<
North Field
Complétions
Not Excitiniï
Rugged driller« and tool
dressers continued to make hole
in the Krvin-Hnnhurst field dur
ing the week despite extremely
adverse weather condition«, but
the result« of their endeavors
were not exciting.
perial-Cralg-Bluhm No. 20. SW
NE 10-35N-1W, acidized with
(ConUnusd on Page 6)
1m
SW
Tom Brook Moka*
Strike. Alberto
Tom Brook, energetic
wildcatter, has made a i
Alberta
strike In
the Lloyd min» 1er field on the
Alberta • Haskatrhewan border.
300 miles north of the Albert»
Montana line, according to the
OU Bulletin. He bas
in what appears to lie a
commercially productive well,
seven miles north of the cur
rent producing limit» of the
field, the Bulletin says.
G
fckpnr
rilled I
Mission Creek
Well Standing
J
Wildcat of the Richfield Oil Com
pany of California, on the Mission
Creek structure near Livingston,
in Park county, has made hole to
2635 feet with rotary tools and will
suspend operations until spring
cause of adverse weather condilfi
lx
ons
Twin Buttes
Wildcat 2987
Union Oil Company of California
this week made hole to 2987 feet
in its wildcat on the Twin Buttes
structure in Stillwater county,
northwest of Billings, and should
be a completion inside of the next
two weeks.
Montana Power
Test Near Pay
Wildcat of the Montana Pow
er Company on the Reagan
structure, north of wells that
got oil at the top of the Madison
Hm«, this week made hole with
rotary tools to 3540 feet after
topping the Cut Bank sand at
MM, and apparently will be a
completion inside of the next
10 days. It Is less than two miles
«onth of the Alberta border, on
the Blackfeet Indian reaerva
thm, west of the north end of
the Cut Bank Held.