AVOIDABLE OIL-FIELD WASTES AND LOSSES In no industry perhaps has there been greater waste than in the production of oil. The transportation, refining and market ing departments of the industry are highly standardized, but in seeking for oil and in handling the oil after it has been found,. there is admittedly waste, although it is doubtful if much of it could be avoided, considering the methods employed in the past.
There has recently been much discussion regarding bette operating methods in the oil business. For a number of years the United States Bureau of Mines and the United States Geo logical Survey have been making studies and experiments with .' view to the conservation of our oil resources. The efforts of thes. Bureaus are to-day better understood than they were formerly because of a policy of publicity and educational campaigns tha were greatly needed.
In the past the petroleum industry was unorganized; eac operator was out for himself and the "devil take the hindmost.' To-day the American producers, refiners, and distributors art doing good work in cooperating to overcome wasteful productio methods. Money was made so quickly in some fields that econo mies seemed petty, but in many instances willful ignorance o what constituted true economy produced almost crimin. results. A few barrels of oil flowing down a creek is not a grea waste, but a 50,000,000 cu. ft. daily gas well allowed to flow wilt for months is a shameful waste, not only of fuel, but of liftin. force in an oil field. Perhaps the gas has no immediate value and in some areas may not have for some 20 years, but neverthe less its loss is a national waste. Its more immediate los however, is the fact that a decrease in the supply of gas mean decreased oil production. Figure 73 shows some escaping as wel In some cases such losses seem unavoidable. The question always is "Do the present demand and necessity for oil warrant the loss of a product like gas, which may not be economically valuable in a new area for many years, although a generation from to-day its value will be unquestioned?" In concrete form it may be stated; "Is it more important to conserve gas wells against future needs, or to develop an oil field which is of value immediately?" The immediate need, as against a future one, generally governs our actions. It does, however, seem a great
national waste to see so much natural gas escaping. Legislation has to some extent checked such waste, but not by any means completely.
The employment of oil for fuel on the lease under boilers to generate steam for drilling or pumping is often a great waste. On some properties as much as 100 bbls. of oil per day may be used to generate steam. As high as 35,000 bbl. per year were so employed on one lease. At a value of $1.50 per bbl. this would mean $52,500.00.
The installation of gas engines using waste gas on a lease would save all the oil and pump the wells just as efficiently.
In the past one of the greatest losses was that of the casing head gasoline which was allowed to escape with the flowing gas, and the light vapors coming off the oil as it flowed from the well. Great savings have been effected along such lines by the casing head gasoline industry, which now obtains gasoline from the vapors in gas wells, from the vapors in flow lines of oil wells, and from the vapors escaping from the oil-storage tanks. The magnitude of this former waste can be appreciated by a study of the rapid growth of the casing-head gasoline industry.
The old forms of oil storage have given way to new. The earthen reservoir cannot compare with the steel tank. The escape of waste oil from flowing wells is now seldom allowed. Small streams of oil trickling down rills is a sight now rarely seen. In some of the early California excitement, however, a few such streams were dammed up and from 200 to 300 bbl . of oil per day were pumped from dams by people who appreciated the value of this waste product. In one instance—at Coalinga—this waste continued unchecked for over 3 years.