Papers - Production - Foreign - Petroleum in Yugoslavia

In the special number of the magazine Ocl und Kohle (Oct. 22, 1940) dedicated to the petroleum industry of southeastern Europe, there appeared several articles relating to Yugos1avia.t In the first article the author calls attention to the fact that there are two fields in Yugoslavia that have been explored and exploited by more than 100 wells at variable depths during the last 50 years. These are on the Island of Mura, at the confluence of the Mura and the Drave. Additional exploration drilling in various other parts of the country has been without result, but certain ones of these explorations have revealed the existence of gas horizons that have some value, which are being used for industrial purposes. Table I shows the production of oil and gas between the years 1900 and 1939. TaBle —Production of Oil ad Gas in Yugoslavia . n,i Natural Natural Years oil Years Gas, Cu. Years Gas, Cu. Meters Meters T900-1929 10,000 1923 507,000 1934 1,388,000 1930 277 1924 567,000 1935 1,401,000 1931 202 I92S 691,000 I936 1,483,000 t932 289 19261 1.472,000 1937 1,841,000 1933 629 1927! 1,732,000 193s 2,431,000 1934 324 1928 2,515,000 1939 2,628,000 1935 260 1929 4,700,000 1936 137 I93O 5.345,200 1937 463 1931 6,376,153 1938 1,091 1932 1,661,737 1939 1,114 1933 959,574 The number of wells drilled from 1884 to the present time was in the neighborhood of zoo and the total footage drilled was 65,000 m. up to July I940 They may be divided roughly as follows: 12 wells in the region produce natural gas; 134 wells in the two old fields of the Island of Mura and about zo wells for the exploration of the zone of the Flysch, in Bosnia. The depths of 50 of these wells was roo to 200 m.; the depths of 50 wells oil the Island of Mura ran from zoo to 500 m.; of 2 ; wells, 500 to I000 m.; of ro wells from rooo to 2000 meters. The deepest well drilling in Yugoslavia has reached 2000 in. In the Valley of Morave, in the region of Selnica, I00 km. south of Nish, there have been discovered asphalt-bearing limestones, which contain about 15 per cent asphalt and are associated with bituminous clays. Later, at Paclenica, important deposits of natural gas were found. A zone rich in gas and oil seepages runs through Pracec, Miklenska, Bujavica, etc. The author studied these regions from the point of view of stratigraphy and tectonics. The anticlines and gas-bearing domes are concentrated in two zones: the region of the Drave (Island of Mura) and the region of the Save, southeast of zagreb, which contains the gas field in exploitation in the region of Bujavica. A full description of the productive region of the Island of Mura has been given by Egon Bohm, a geologist, in the second article mentioned. This includes a history of the exploration and exploitation that took place under Hungarian rule in this region. The most important exploration was effected between 1884 and 1885 by Stavenov and Stinger, of Vienna. In 1927 work was done in the same region by Anton Raky, a well-known explorer who makes work of this kind his specialty.