OUR PETROLEUM SUPPLY — MISER 307 



president of the Institution of Petroleum Technologists, comments, 

 "In no branch of human endeavor has the application of exact knowl- 

 edge been so apparent as in the exploring, winning, refining, transport, 

 distribution, and utilization of mineral oil. At every point in the 

 long road that leads from the oil well to the consumer investigation 

 and research have been employed with almost spectacular results" (3). 



The recognition of the value of the geologists' contribution to the 

 industry finds concrete expression in the fact that most of the com- 

 panies have geological departments. Oil companies, however, have 

 employed great numbers of geologists only in the last 25 years. 



The general acceptance of geology in the search for oil took place 

 about 1915, more than 50 years after the completion of the Drake 

 well. This acceptance was not so much a whole-hearted welcome as it 

 was a necessity, for the oil companies were being pressed to meet the 

 rapidly increasing demands for gasoline required for the growing 

 numbers of motor vehicles. 



Although geology was utilized only to a limited extent in the selec- 

 tion of drilling sites during the first half century of the petroleum in- 

 dustry, geologic observations concerning the occurrence of petroleum 

 date back to 1842. In that year William Logan observed the occur- 

 rence of oil on anticlines near Gaspe. In 1860 H. D. Rogers noted that 

 the newly discovered fields in Pennsylvania were located on anti- 

 clines. In the following year T. Sterry Hunt outlined the first clear 

 statement of the anticlinal theory of the accumulation of petroleum, 

 but during the next 25 years Hunt and the other geologists who ac- 

 cepted the anticlinal theory made little application of it in reporting 

 on the oil possibilities of certain areas in the United States and Can- 

 ada. In the early eighties I. C. White made practical application of 

 the principles of the theory in the location of new oil and gas fields, 

 but still the industry in general continued to ignore geology. From 

 1900 to 1915 the significance of the relation of petroleum to anticlinal 

 structure was clearly demonstrated for many areas by the investiga- 

 tions and publications of the Federal Geological Survey. 



The number of geologists now serving the industry in the United 

 States, in the employ of companies and in the employ of govern- 

 mental, State, and other institutions, appears to exceed 3,000 — a num- 

 ber somewhat larger than the number of geologists in the United 

 States who are members of the American Association of Petroleum 

 Geologists. Altogether, 2,354 geologists living in the United States 

 were members of this organization on March 1, 1938. 



It is noteworthy that the States having the greatest oil production 

 are the ones that have most oil geologists, as indicated by the mem- 

 bership of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists as of 

 March 1, 1938. 



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