viii, a, 5 Pratt and Smith: Petroleum Resources 357 



as the Bato anticline. This locality is about 120 meters above 

 sea level. There is no visible seepage, but petroleum may be ob- 

 tained by digging into the banks of petroliferous shale along 

 the stream. The strata belong to the Bacau stage of the Vigo 

 shale. 



PETROLEUM ON AJUS RIVER 



At a point on Ajus River above the village of Ajus and about 

 4 kilometers from the mouth of the river, bubbles of inflam- 

 mable gas and traces of petroleum appear on the surface of the 

 water after a pole has been forced into the mud on the bottom. 

 The oil occurs in the Vigo shale which dips steeply to the east 

 and appears to be part of an overturned fold. The shale is 

 bedded and petroliferous; layers of sandstone are interbedded 

 in it, one of which, outcropping near the oil seep, is also slightly 

 petroliferous. The elevation at the oil seep is about 45 meters. 



PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF THE PETROLEUM 



The petroleum encountered in the Tayabas field has a paraffin 

 base, is low in specific gravity (36° to 39° Baume) , and unusually 

 mobile. It is light brown to wine-red by transmitted light, pale 

 blue by reflected light. Different seeps afford petroleums which 

 appear to be similar in character, although anaylses are avail- 

 able on the oil from only one source; namely, Bahay well 1 on 

 Bahay River. Distillation yields a remarkably high proportion 

 of gasoline, and the crude oil has an odor distinctly suggestive of 

 light oils. George F. Richmond, 18 formerly of the Bureau 

 of Science, made the earliest analyses of Tayabas petroleum, 

 and later analyses have only confirmed his results. Rich- 

 mond first tested a sample submitted by a commercial firm; 

 and later, because the percentage of light distillates was so high 

 as to arouse a suspicion that the sample was not authentic, he 

 verified his findings upon samples collected at the well by Dr. 

 George I. Adams, formerly of the Bureau of Science. Samples 

 taken from the same well during the field work for this report 

 were examined in the division of organic chemistry, Bureau of 

 Science. The following table gives Richmond's analyses and 

 other analyses of Tayabas petroleum made upon samples collected 

 recently. For comparison, analyses of petroleums from neigh- 

 boring islands and of well-known petroleums from other parts 

 of the world are inserted. 



w Loc. cit. 



