YENANGYAT. 137 



Yenangyat oilfield are very poor ones. The first oil sand has run 

 almost dry, and those tapped by the deep borings have for the present 

 yielded only a small quantity of oil, although this has been produced 

 by flowing wells. The existence of these flowing wells is the only 

 bright and encouraging feature in the otherwise dark prospect of the 

 Yenangyat oilfield, but as a whole they do not prove much about the 

 future prospects. All that the flowing wells show is that in the sand 

 from which the oil has been drawn a pressure exists which is suffi- 

 cient to bring the oil in a small stream to the surface. 



So far as our present experience goes, nothing indicates the 

 existence of a large quantity of oil, certainly not within the sequence 

 of strata, from the surface to 1,100 feet in depth. As it may be 

 doubted whether the small quantity of oil produced by the drilled 

 wells is sufficient to pay the expenses of drilling, it may be safely 

 stated that, unless the next test wells prove the existence of a rich 

 oil sand, the Yenangyat oilfield will have to be abandoned as unpro- 

 fitable within a short time. 



Chapter VI.— THE OCCURRENCE OF PETROLEUM AT 

 OTHER LOCALITIES IN UPPER BURMA. 



A monograph dealing with the occurrence of petroleum in Upper 

 Burma would be incomplete without at least a mention of the other 

 localities in Burma where it is known to occur, although these 

 localities may not have been examined in detail. I do not pretend 

 to say that the following list is exhaustive, in fact I am rather inclin- 

 ed to think that petroleum will eventually be discovered at other 

 localities too, when a thorough exploration of the country has been 

 made. For the present I am able to add the following :— 



1. Bondoung. — Its geographical position may roughly be defined 

 as about Lat. 22 30' Long. 94° 45'. The place where the petroleum 

 oozes out is surrounded by almost impenetrable jungle, which covers 

 the valley of the Patalon-choung, a small feeder of the Chindwin river, 

 about five marches south of the village of Mingin in the Lower Chind- 

 win district. As far as I have been able to ascertain the petroleum 



( 183 ) 



