618 M. L. FULLER APPALACHIAN OIL FIELD 



Page 



Principal factors 640 



Structures 640 



Reservoirs 641 



Confining agencies 643 



Dips 645 



Production 645 



Developed area 645 



Wells 646 



Production statistics. 646 



Future of the Appalachian oil field 647 



In general 647 



Evidence of stratigraphy 647 



Evidence of structure 648 



Evidence of character of reservoirs 649 



Evidence of degree of dynamo-chemical alteration 649 



Future influence of geology 650 



Influence of deeper drilling 651 



Effect of improved methods of recovery 653 



Effect of cheaper and more effective refining methods 653 



Influence of possible substitutes 653 



Trend of production curve 654 



Final conclusions 654 



Introduction 



The Appalachian oil field is nnquestionably the best known of any of 

 the American fields, not only for the reason that it is the oldest, but be- 

 cause, being the first, it attracted the attention of geologists and oil men 

 to a degree never attained by any of the fields subsequently opened. It^ 

 literature is voluminous and its published historical and scientific records 

 are more complete than those of any other field in the United States. 

 The structure has been worked out over broad areas with great detail and 

 refinement, especially in the northern and central sections of the field, by 

 the National and State geological surveys, and probably few, if any, oi* 

 what may be called the major dynamic structures have escaped recogni- 

 tion. 



Nevertheless, much still remains to be accomplished in unraveling the 

 minor, but by no means unimportant, details of structure and in reaching 

 a better understanding of other factors governing the occurrence of petro- 

 leum and natural gas. The Appalachian field is as yet by no means ap- 

 proaching exhaustion, and no symposium on the oil resources of the conn 

 try would be complete without a consideration of its history, ontput, and 

 structure from the standpoint of its bearing on future production. It is 



