NATURAL GAS. 
57 
pressure has a marked tendency to open up numerous channels of low 
resistance in the rock formation, so that the gas in the gas sand can 
get to the well opening with a minimum of friction. The high initial 
rock pressure aids substantially in first creating such lines of least 
resistance and then in freeing them of loose particles of sand which 
are blown out through the well. Even though an offset well is after- 
wards drilled in the same pool, the initial rock pressure will probably 
be lower than for the first well, and the lower gas pressure will not 
be near as likely to produce favorable conditions for flowing to the 
bottom of the offset well as were produced in the first well. 
WHEN IS THE DRILLING OF OFFSET WELLS JUSTIFIABLE? 
The crux of the entire “offset well-drilling question” is whether 
the decision to make the additional investment in drilling offset wells 
for natural gas, providing the increased annual operating cost for 
their care and maintenance and cutting down the reserve acreage 
necessary for future continuity of service, shall be made by the 
farmer — with no risks involved and no obligation to the public— or 
the party who must provide the money, assume the financial risk and 
operating duty to the public. The following correctly expresses the 
equities of the situation: The development and protection of lines 
which is implied is such as is usually found in the business of an 
ordinary prudent man. The operator, who has assumed the obliga- 
tions, has put his money and labor into the undertaking, and is now 
called upon to determine whether it will pay to spend some thousands 
of dollars more in sinking another well to increase the production of 
the tract, is entitled to follow his own judgment, if that is exercised 
in good faith, in accordance with the doctrines laid down on page 65. 
PUBLIC PAYS FOR WASTEFUL OPERATION. 
While the production of natural gas is strictly a mining venture, 
its distribution to the ultimate consumer is distinctly a public utility 
service. Even under State regulation of public utilities, any marked 
increase in the cost of natural gas mining operations will soon be 
reflected in the price the ultimate consumer must pay for the natural 
gas service. 
The acreage data given in figures 5, 6, and 7 show that not every 
landowner can have an offset well. The drilling and operation of 
unnecessary offset wells will represent a large increase in the capital 
investment and operation cost of natural gas companies. All of such 
increased burdens represent an unnecessary waste which will ulti- 
mately be paid for by the public. 
The following analysis gives the reasons for the drilling by one 
company of 429 wells in West Virginia during 1916, and emphasizes 
