PAPERS OX GEOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY 375 



barrels. These include development wells in and around 

 the older producing small fields, but a large proportion 

 represents wildcat drilling, some of it well advised, more 

 of it ill advised, or lacking any basis but that of "hunch" 

 or superstition, and some based on nothing but a scheme 

 of the promoter to make some money. Fortunately these 

 last two types are becoming scarcer. A summation of 

 the above figures gives a total of 341 holes drilled in the 

 State for the year; S9 were dry holes and 252 were wells 

 bringing in a total flush reported production of 5,890 bar- 

 rels. The dry holes are 25 per cent of the total wells 

 drilled, or 35 per cent of the number of producing wells. 

 There were 71 wells abandoned in the old fields that had 

 reached the limit of their economic life at the prevailing 

 price of crude oil. 



In estimating the economic success of the exploitation 

 of crude oil production, it appears on the basis of these 

 figures that against the value of the oil obtained must be 

 charged not only the overhead, drilling equipment, and 

 producing costs of ttie producing wells, but also an addi- 

 tional 35 per cent of the drilling cost must be charged 

 to take care of the dry holes drilled incident to the 

 development. A" rough estimate at prevailing prices of 

 the value of the new production obtained during the year 

 indicates that after deducting all development charges, 

 the industry shows profitable returns. It is evident, how- 

 ever, that the cost of drilling dry holes must be 

 brought and maintained at a minimum by the utilization 

 of all available information and experience that will en- 

 able the best judgment to be used in the location of ex- 

 ploratory drilling. This is one of the main functions of 

 geology as applied to the oil industry. It is one of the 

 objects of the State Geological Survey and of the geolo- 

 gists working for oil interests in the State to localize de- 

 velopment and to limit exploratory expenditures to areas 

 where the chances of finding oil are greatest. Only by 

 such guidance can the ratio of dry holes to producing 

 wells be reduced to, and maintained at. a minimum while 

 development of the oil reserves continues. 



