204 NOETLING : PETROLEUM IN BURMA. 



The chief interest of the above statement rests in the, comparative- 

 ly speaking, large increase of the production within a few years. During 

 the year 1888, the insignificant quantity of 415 barrels only was 

 produced ; in the same year the pit wells yielded 61,254 barrels, that 

 is to say, over 147 times the quantity ; it cannot be said that this was a 

 very encouraging start, after the large expectations, although it must 

 not be forgotten, that there were only two, at most three, drilled wells 

 in 1888, but unfortunately these were constructed in the poorer region 

 of the field. 



However, undaunted by this disappointment, the company went 

 on, and the production at first rose slowly, but with the increased 

 number of wells, quicker, till in 1891 with 68,705 barrels, it has not 

 only reached the production of the pit wells, but exceeds it by a 

 trifle, the latter being 68,037 barrels. 



From that time the drilled wells had the upper hand, because from 

 1891 to 1892 the production rose from 68,705 to 129,135 barrels, that 

 is to say, an increase of about 88 per cent. The next two years 

 show again only a slight increase, 1894 closing with a production of 

 154,695 barrels, that is to say, exactly i^ times the production of the 

 pit wells which amounted to 94,595 barrels during the same year. 



It is certainly by no means a bad progress that within seven 

 years the production of the drilled wells has increased to such an 

 extent, that from being T | T of the production of the pit wells at 

 the end of the first year, it amounts to i| times that production at the 

 end of the seventh year, although this same production has more 

 than doubled during the same period. 



If anything can prove the superiority of the drilled wells over the 

 dug pit wells, these figures should do so. It may perhaps be argued 

 that the drilled wells have been constructed in a richer region of the 

 oil tract, but so far as my experience goes, this is by no means the 

 case, if anything, the Twingon area is decidedly the richer portion of 

 the two, the 1st and 2nd sand being petroliferous, while they are dry 

 at Kodoung. 

 ( 250 ) 



