THE CUBA REVIEW 



23 



Star Perforating Engine of the Cuban & Pan-American Petroleum & Refining 

 Company, Bacuranao. 



L. CI. Huntley maintains that the antichnal between Guines and Bejucal where the Geo- 

 gina and Antillana wells are situated, together with the seepages of oil found near the towns of 

 Jamaica and Madruga, furnish an excellent basis to recommend the continuation of exploration. 



E. de Goyler believes that the oil found below the .serpentine or at the point of contact 

 between the serpentine and the sedimentary, has its origin in the Jurassic limestone, which 

 forms a large part of the mountains of Pinar del Rio. The igneous rocks to which the serpen- 

 tines belong penetrated the cretaceous rocks after the strata had been deposited, and Mr. 

 de Goyler is confident th[.t the asphalt and petroleum fields found in the serpentines are 

 filtrations from deposits far below the surface. 



This last statement agrees with our observations made in the wells of Bacuranao, where the 

 ■drill perforated a great depth of serpentine before finding the petroleum bearing strata. 



Frederick C. Clapp, in a paper on the structural classification of petroleum and natural 

 gas fields read before the Geological Society of America in 1917, stated that there undoubtedly 

 exist in Cuba oil deposits which he classifies as a subdivision of sedimentary strata in contact 

 with intrusive masses of rocks or lacoliths, an unusual form of deposit observed in the Furbero 

 field of Mexico, where the oil bearing strata lie both above and below the lacoliths. 



In Bacuranao the same conditions may be observed in the mass of serpentine which con- 

 stitutes the intrusive rock in contact with the highly disturbed cretaceous beds which form the 

 terrane. 



But whatever may be the origin of petroleum in Cuba, and in spite of the pessimistic 

 ■opinions of some of the experts who have examined our petroleum districts, we, in view of the 

 recent explorations in the neighborhood of Bacuranao, strongly believe that through scientific 

 soundings at depths of three to four thousand feet, a zone may yet be discovered that will rival 

 those of the best petroleum producing countries in the world. 



Havana, July 2.5th, 1918. 



