PETROLEUM, 39 



procedure, while small companies and individual operators tend more 

 to follow what is picturesquely termed " wildcat " ^ operations. Thus 

 the production of oil is in part dependent upon stable conditions, but 

 in larger part is still a type of activity which approaches in con- 

 siderable measure a gambling venture. This is why oil mining is 

 generally looked upon and commonly described as hazardous from a 

 financial standpoint. The hazard is inherent only in small-scale op- 

 erations. 



The engineering type of production makes use of skilled geological 

 knowledge in its campaign of oil production. The modern oil com- 

 pany employs a large geologic staff, which determines by detailed 

 field surveys the most promising spots for drilling.^ The growth of 

 oil geology has been rapid and while, of course, geologic science can 

 not strike oil with every drill, it does multiply by many times the 

 chances of each drilling operation. It has been stated that "the 

 operator who plays geology has a fifty times better chance of striking 

 oil than he who does not." ^ 



But in spite of numerous highly organized production activities, 

 the fact remains that the petroleum production of the United States 

 is in considerable measure dependent upon a hit-or-miss plan of ex- 

 ploitation. Were it not for the wildcatter, who stakes his all (some- 

 times borrowed) on the chance that a random hole drilled in the gen- 

 eral vicinity of productive territory will yield the hoped-for return, 

 the output of petroleum in a country which produces two-thirds of 

 the world's supply would fall to an utterly inadequate figure. The 

 gambling instinct is still the prime motive power that lifts most of 

 the oil produced in this country. Familiar is the expression, once 

 an oil man, always an oil man.* 



* In strict oil-field parlance, to ivildcat is to drill a well where oil has not been proven 

 to exist, as opposed to drilling a well in the midst of producing wells. Thus both large 

 companies and small may alike engage in ioildcatUng, although, as a matter of course, 

 most of the wtldcatting is done by small operating units. 



A good picture of wildcat operations is given by W. S. Tower in The Story of Oil, 

 1909, p. 66 : "To call a well a wildcat venture means merely that the drilling is done 

 on untested territory, or on land not definitely known to be oil producing. The wildcat 

 operation is, therefore, an out-and-out gambling process by a man who is willing to 

 stake a few thousand dollars against heavy odds that he will find oil at some depths 

 in a drill hole a few inches in diameter. If luck favors him, his winnings may be 

 enormous ; if he loses, his only hope is to pull up, leave the hole where his money is 

 sunk, and move to some other place." 



2 The implication, of course, is not intended that small companies do not employ 

 geologic service, but, in general, the smaller the company the less likely it is to be capable 

 of making the necessary expenditure. The Federal Government, through the U. S. 

 Geological Survey, has rendered a signal service to the small operator through its pub- 

 lished reports and maps covering oil regions, but the small operator has not in all in- 

 stances taken advantage of even published geological information. 



8 Dorsey Hager, Bulletin American Institute of Mining Engineers, October, 1917, pp. 

 1793-5. 



* An unfortunate and far-reaching consequence of the present method of production 

 is the extension of the gambling aspect into widespread public consciousness, leading 

 to a susceptibility to the purchase of stock in illegitimate oil-mining ventures. The 

 losses involved in the readiness of the public to embrace the schemes of fraudulent oil 

 promoters are untold and have reacted unfavorably upon public opinion in respect to 

 the legitimate industry. 



