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By Dennis J. McCarthy

TAX TREATMENT OF EXPLORATION AND DEVELOPMENT EXPENSES Exploration Expenditures General Principles. Exploration expenditures are expenses incurred within the United States or the Outer Continental Shelf for the purpose of ascertaining the existence, location, extent or quality of any deposit of ore or other mineral. Section 617 of the Internal Revenue Code permits a taxpayer to elect to deduct these expenditures currently. In default of election, exploration expenditures must be capitalized and included in the basis of the mineral property for purposes of determining cost depletion. Entitlement to Deduction. In order to qualify for current deduction, exploration expenditures must be incurred prior to the commencement of the development stage, i.e., when mineral deposits are shown to exist in sufficient quantity and quality to reasonably justify commercial exploitation. Generally, expenditures for geological and geophysical investigations, reconnaissance, surveying, testpitting, trenching, drilling, driving of exploration tunnels and adits and similar types of work constitute exploration expenditures if incurred prior to the commencement of development. However, expenditures to further delineate the extent and location of an existing commercially marketable deposit are not exploration expenditures. Exploration expenditures may be incurred from within a producing mine to ascertain the existence of what appears to be a different ore deposit. Expenditures for property which is subject to an allowance for depreciation are not deductible under §617. However, depreciation properly allowable on assets used in exploration is an exploration expenditure. Election to Deduct Exploration Expenditures. The election to deduct exploration expenditures is made by deducting these expenditures in the return for the first taxable year for which such treatment is desired. The election applies to all properties of the taxpayer. Once the election is made all exploration expenditures, in the year of election and thereafter, must be deducted, unless the election is revoked with the prior consent of the Commissioner. The Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982 (TEFRA) made substantial changes in the treatment of exploration expenditures. For exploration expenses incurred after 1982 and before 1984 by a corporation, the amount currently deductible is limited to 85% of the expenditure. The remaining 15% must be capitalized and recovered over a five-year period. Although exploration costs capitalized under this provision are not part of the basis of the property for cost depletion purposes, investment credit may be claimed with respect to these expenditures. Further changes have been added by the Tax Reform Act of 1984 with respect to expenditures made after 1984. The Act reduces the amount of otherwise currently deductible costs from 85% to 80%. Additionally, it limits the availability of the investment credit for capitalized mineral exploration costs to deposits located in the United States. TEFRA also allows individuals a special method of recovery under which exploration expenditures may, at the election of the taxpayer, be amortized ratably over a 10-year period beginning with the year in which the costs are paid or incurred. If taxpayer does not use this method, the excess of the exploration expenditures actually deducted over the amount that would have been deducted if 10 year amortization had been elected is an item of tax preference subject to the alternative minimum tax.

Jan 1, 1985

By P. W. Bridgman

FLOW and fracture are admittedly complicated phenomena of which we are yet only partially masters. There is not even universal agreement as to the details of the language best adapted merely to describe the phenomena, to say nothing of any theory. Certain points of view, however, are widely held, and there are certain general expectations as to what sort of procedures will prove permissible. A complete description of any situation involving fracture would demand a complete history of all the variables in the control of the experimenter. The experimenter endeavors so to choose his independent variables that they are adequate to determine completely the situation in the sense that when an experiment is repeated on the same initial material and with the independent variables running through the same sequence, all the other measurable properties of the system will also run through the same course. It is, I think, the universal conviction that when we are dealing with phenomena of flow and fracture, the most important of the necessary variables are the external forces acting on the various parts of the body; when the force history repeats, with certain obvious restrictions such as that temperature must be constant and non- mechanical forces, such as magnetic field, must be small enough to be ineffective, then the history of all measurable properties will repeat; in particular the alteration of geometrical shape due to flow will run through the same course, and when fracture comes, the character of the fracture will be reproduced. Complete mastery of merely the descriptive aspects of flow and fracture would demand the ability to predict the entire course of flow and complete characterization of the final fracture for every possible combination of forces, varying in time in all possible ways, when applied to bodies of all possible shapes. This full situation is obviously of prohibitive complexity. The first stage in reduction to manage- able simplicity is to resolve the total situation into the sum of contributions made by small elements. Our thesis is that if each of the elements is adequately characterized, the behavior of the whole system is fixed. The element is usually taken of a simple geometrical shape, suggested by the mathematics best adapted to the particular situation. The forces acting across the faces of the elements are ultimately determined by the forces acting across the free faces of the whole system. The detailed process of finding the precise forces on the faces of all the elements in terms of the external forces involves the use of a special mathematical invention, the stress, a constructional quantity consisting of six components. The stress at any point in the body is determined by both the external force system and by the physical properties of the body at all points; quite different stresses prevail at the interior of bodies of the same shape under the same external forces in the elastic and plastic ranges. The forces on the faces of any element are, however, uniquely determined by the stress system at the element. Our fundamental thesis

Jan 1, 1944

By H. H. Wright

In many fields edge water is one of the most important factors governing the production of oil. Possibly this fact is not appreciated by many producers except in so far as it may bring about a loss in production from wells drilled on the flanks of structures. In the light of artificial flooding as practiced in New York and Pennsylvania, and of the beneficial effect of natural water-flooding on many wells and leases in the Mid-Continent and elsewhere, it seems reasonable to suppose that very few phases of the petroleum industry hold greater promise for future benefit than the study and control of the natural water drive. Rate of Water Encroachment The rate of movement of water in artificially flooded areas has been referred to as so many feet per unit of time, usually from an injection well toward surrounding producing wells. This definition is vague when used in reference to the movement of natural edge water, inasmuch as such factors as sand thickness, steepness of dip and horizontal extent arc not considered. In the ultimate analysis, only the vertical component of movement affects the production of oil in the natural drive, and in order to define the rate of water encroachment more exactly, such a term as acre-fect per unit time might be used. Thus, where one well is located to each 10 acres a vertical movement of 5 ft. in the water level in a year would be defined as an encroachment of 50 acre-feet per year, and where one well is located to each 20 acres, as 100 acre-feet per year. Such a definition as this is entirely arbitrary, but it takes into consideration to a certain extent the influence of well spacing, and consequent sand drainage, on the rate of water movement. The rate of movement is considered to be an important function of water encroachment, for it is believed that the efficiency of recovery by natural water flood depends a good deal upon the rate of movement. In general, rapid encroachment is thought to effect a poor recovery because of the differential in favor of the movement of water through a sand body and the consequent tendency to trap oil in the sand. Slow movement, on the contrary, is thought to bring about a partial displace-

Jan 1, 1931

By L. B. Schmitt, N. H. Polakowski

Square bars of cold-dvawn copper, mild steel and a 2024 aluminum alloy were forced through an adjulstable gap between two hardened steel rollers by pulling or pushing. The rollers were either free to rotate or were locked in position so that conditions comparable with drawing, rolling, ad containerless extrusion could be created at will. Push or pull forces as well as roll separatirg forces were measured. Forming efficiency and coefficients of friction were determined. For- slow-rate deformation the values ot µ wrere between 0.09 and 0.14. Possibilities for further investigation are indicated. THIS work was undertaken with the aim of a) determining the principal parameters of cold drawing under simplified conditions directly, without recourse to speculative assumptions and b) comparing drawing with rolling and extrusion from the viewpoint of forces involved and deformation efficiency. Data of type a) relating forces in axially-symmet-rical drawing to die geometry. drafting schedules, material properties and lubrication conditions are abundant. Their intrinsic value is. however. limited as long as the radial die forces are unknown. On the other hand. the difficulties associated with measurement of these forces are serious as witnessed by the extreme paucity of such information."" Comparative investigations of type b) were also remarkably few and they all employed ring-shaped dies through which round bars were either drawn or pushed.2-4 Only in one case were the applied and the die splitting forces measured simultaneously.2 In order to simplify the problem, deformation under approximately biaxial conditions was adopted in the present work;. This enables both the drawing (rolling, extruding) efforts and the separating forces to be measured with reasonable ease by conventional methods. Since drawing, extrusion, and rolling can be carried out under virtually identical conditions only in a roller die. an adjustable tool of this type was constructed. The circular die profile involved a difficulty with interpreting the drawing and extrusion data. This was obviated by arbitrarily defining the angle between a contact chord and the drawing plane as the -.equivalent" die semiangle. The simplification was considered permissible since the effect of die angle was not specifically investigated. An additional conlplication was caused by the square cross section of the processed bars. This shape was selected as a compromise between the desire to have as massive as possible specimens and the capacity of the roller die. The metal was only partially restrained from spreading laterally. the flow conditions being therefore intermediate between plane stress and plane strain. On the Huber-Mises yield criterion the constrained and uni-axial yield strengths differ by up to 16 pct but the actual error due to the ignorance of the constraint factor was presumably much smaller than the maximum. In spite of these reservations it was felt that the method employed and results obtained have some merit. With certain further refinements to be indicated later, this technique can yield data perhaps more useful for checking metal forming theories than other, mostly indirect, methods. EXPERIMENTAL Materials—The metals used together with their principal mechanical properties are listed in Table I.

Jan 1, 1961

By Lawrence Addicks

Some three years ago the smelter connected with the Chrome, N. J., refinery of the United States Metals Refining Co. found itself embarrassed by constantly increasing piles of unsmelted blast-furnace flue dust. The charge was fine and 10 to 15 per cent. of it was blown over into the flue. Sulphur was at that time too scarce to make the sintering of the finer part of the charge attractive, and raw-ore smelting in a reverberatory with a partly oxidized charge was not to be thought of. A great many schemes were considered, including leaching, blowing into the converters, and briquetting, the problem finally narrowing down to blast roasting and nodulizing. It was found by experiment that blast roasting would not yield a satisfactory sinter without the addition of coke dust or sulphide fines to augment the fuel value of the flue dust, and on this account, together with the low first cost of a kiln, the latter was decided upon. A couple of tons of flue dust were tried out in the experimental kiln in the laboratory at Yorktown, Va., of J. H. Payne, who acted as consulting engineer in this connection. This kiln was approximately 2 ft. in diameter and 20 ft. long and was fired with fuel oil. A run of several hours yielded excellent nodules. The ki1n showed no tendency to build in and form "nose rings" and gave a fuel consumption of 50 gal, of oil per ton of flue dust. There was no indication of any stack loss. The roasting was strongly oxidizing. A study of what full-size kilns were doing on cement clinker and on nodulizing pyrites cinder indicated that a 60 by 6 ft. kiln would certainly not consume over half of the oil per ton of flue dust shown on the test and as fuel oil at that time was selling around 2 1/2 c. per gallon it was decided to let it go at that. A 60 by 6 ft. kiln was decided on, as that size is standard in cement practice, although fast being replaced by much larger ones with their greater fuel economy, and as it fitted in the building space available. A 6-in. brick lining brought the net diameter down to 5 ft. The inclination

Jan 1, 1915

By Albert J Hoskinson

Progress on the earth depends to a large extent upon the rapid interchange of ideas and commodities between the various nations of the world. The smooth flow of commerce, by which these ideas and commodities move, is accelerated by accurate and complete maps of the various land and water areas of the earth. The production of accurate maps depends upon a complete knowledge of the figure and dimensions of the object to be charted, therefore a knowledge of the shape of the earth is a prime necessity for accurate charting purposes. Gravity observations were first undertaken to aid in determining the shape of the earth so that the geodetic surveys of its land and water areas might be more accurately connected to form an undistorted map. A large part of the earth's surface is water and it is therefore necessary to get gravity values at sea as well as on land before a complete and accurate figure of the earth can be determined. Dr. F. A. Vening Meinesz, of Holland, was the first scientist to perfect a pendulum instrument that would accurately measure gravity at sea. He had previously developed a multiple pendulum apparatus for measuring gravity upon swampy and unstable land areas in Holland and it was therefore quite natural that he should adapt the instrument to give accurate results upon a still more unstable support, the surface of the sea. His instrument as perfected gives satisfactory results when mounted in gimbals on any vessel where the roll and pitch are not more than about 5" and where the vibrations from rotating machinery and wave action are not large enough to cause the pendulums to shift on the knife-edges. This degree of stability can be obtained on surface craft only in protected waters or on very calm days. Therefore, Dr. Meinesz mounted his instrument in a submarine so that he could submerge below the disturbed surface waters and get the desired stability in nearly any kind of weather by simply diving to greater depths. Most of the gravity-at-sea work has been done with a Meinesz instrument and a very large number of the observations have been made by Dr. Meinesz himself. He has occupied nearly 1000 sea, stations and probably has traveled as many miles by

Jan 1, 1940

By Albert J. Hoskinson

Progress on the earth depends to a large extent upon the rapid interchange of ideas and commodities between the various nations of the world. The smooth flow of commerce, by which these ideas and commodities move, is accelerated by accurate and complete maps of the various land and water areas of the earth. The production of accurate maps depends upon a complete knowledge of the figure and dimensions of the object to be charted, therefore a knowledge of the shape of the earth is a prime necessity for accurate charting purposes. Gravity observations were first undertaken to aid in determining the shape of the earth so that the geodetic surveys of its land and water areas might be more accurately connected to form an undistorted map. A large part of the earth's surface is water and it is therefore necessary to get gravity values at sea as well as on land before a complete and accurate figure of the earth can be determined. Dr. F. A. Vening Meinesz, of Holland, was the first scientist to perfect a pendulum instrument that would accurately measure gravity at sea. He had previously developed a multiple pendulum apparatus for measuring gravity upon swampy and unstable land areas in Holland and it was therefore quite natural that he should adapt the instrument to give accurate results upon a still more unstable support, the surface of the sea. His instrument as perfected gives satisfactory results when mounted in gimbals on any vessel where the roll and pitch are not more than about 5" and where the vibrations from rotating machinery and wave action are not large enough to cause the pendulums to shift on the knife-edges. This degree of stability can be obtained on surface craft only in protected waters or on very calm days. Therefore, Dr. Meinesz mounted his instrument in a submarine so that he could submerge below the disturbed surface waters and get the desired stability in nearly any kind of weather by simply diving to greater depths. Most of the gravity-at-sea work has been done with a Meinesz instrument and a very large number of the observations have been made by Dr. Meinesz himself. He has occupied nearly 1000 sea, stations and probably has traveled as many miles by

Jan 1, 1940

By E. J. Duggan

It is a coincidence that the two plants in this country for treating copper ores by ammonia leaching came into existence at almost the same time, that of the Kennecott Copper Corporation at Kennecott, Alaska, in March, 1916, and that of the Calumet & Hecla Mining Co. in July of the same year. The success of both from their very beginning attests the merits of the process under widely different sets of conditions. As would be expected, in the time they have been operating these two pioneers in this field have greatly perfected their methods and improved their technic. The early difficulties inevitably encountered in undertakings of this nature have been largely surmounted and the process may now be considered to be well seasoned and matured. There have been no other commercial plants built in this country and but one elsewhere, the Bwana M'Kubwa in Northern Rhodesia, for the reason that this method of treatment may be employed on comparatively few ores. However, it has certain advantages, some of which are inherent to sand leaching processes generally and some to ammonia leaching in particular. Among these may be enumerated: (1) the avoidance of fine grinding; (2) the small amount of water required; (4) a high-grade product; (5) little likelihood of deleterious gangue constituents and fouling of solutions. It is true that great progress has been made in recent years in the flotation of the ores that come within the province of ammonia leaching. Nevertheless ammonia leaching has its possibilities and these may be overlooked in the present tendency toward the use of flotation for all ores. Probably the chief requisite to its further extension to suitable ores will be a cheap source of steam. Ammonia, the only reagent required, is unlimited in supply, readily transported and the price that is likely to obtain in the future should not make its cost at all onerous. Choice of Method for Kennecott Ores The Kennecott ores are typical limestone replacement deposits. The milling ores have a copper content of approximately 8 per cent in a limestone dolomite gangue. About half the copper occurs as sulfide, mostly chalcocite with some covellite, and the remainder in the form of the two carbonates, malachite and azurite. A comparatively coarse grind followed

Jan 1, 1934

By A. Lee Barrett

MINE power systems are quite different in many respects from those usually found in industrial plants. Wide areas are served, usually by a circuit which is connected continuously throughout the mine. In some mines one circuit may run for several miles. There are usually a small number of branch circuits involved considering the areas covered. In all mines circuits are sectionalized at approximately 2500 ft by means of switches. All, or at least most branch circuits, are sectionalized by manual switches. In some mines automatic sectionalizing gear is used to give automatic overload protection at various strategic points in the system. However at the present time this practice is by no means general. Circuit hazards in mine electric systems are much greater than those encountered in industrial installation. Falls of roof or coal form a prominent hazard which may break the wire and may cause ground faults or partial ground faults. Ordinarily electric cables in mines cannot be insulated, there- fore n fall can easily cause a short circuit. The humidity in most mines is greater than 95 pct and at many points the floor is wet and water may be dripping from the roof over insulators, increasing the difficulties at that point. All electrical circuits must be contained in the mine entries and space must also be provided for moving equipment and men. Consequently, because of the proximity of the power circuit to the locomotives and other moving equipment a considerable hazard is introduced. Mine haulage track is not always good so that wrecks are not unusual. A wreck frequently does consider- able damage to the power circuit. A ground fault frequently results in heavy arcing which may be sustained. If the damage to the circuit is mechanical it may mean that a trip of coal has wrecked and a great deal of coal dust could be thrown into the air as a result of the wreck. The arc resulting from the ground fault could ignite the coal dust and a mine explosion would result. A continued ground fault, even if high in resistance, also may ignite the coal which may be on the bottom of the entry and a mine fire may result. The fire hazard is one of the most serious hazards in any coal mine. Since the mine circuit is completely interconnected, any power interruption resulting from a fault seriously affects the whole operation. Unless the mine is completely sectionalized the whole mine will be shut down until the fault is located and the proper switches are opened to isolate the fault; even then large areas may still be without power if they are supplied by a single power circuit which may be opened in isolating the fault. Further, mine power is usually supplied from a relatively small number of substations and the fault may be on a stub feed circuit, in which case power cannot be restored until the fault has been cleared. Practice varies widely with respect to placement of substations. Usually they will be spaced from I to 2 miles in 500V operations, and at 1 mile intervals or less, in 250 V operation. Actual mining operations govern substation placements and no general rules can be followed.

Jan 1, 1948

By R. I. Jaffee, H. R. Ogden

AT the present time, there appear to be two conflicting opinions on the solubility of boron in titanium. P. Ehrlich' has indicated from X-ray diffraction work that boron is soluble in titanium up to TiB0.8 (17.8 wt pct, 44 atomic pct). The X-ray diffraction pattern for titanium was found in compositions up to TiB0.05_0.07 (1.1 to 1.6 wt pct); then, without a phase gap, superlattice lines appeared up to TiB0.8 On the other hand, Craighead, Simmons, and Eastwood' have estimated the solubility of boron in both alpha and beta titanium to be less than 0.1 wt pct, based on results of metallographic analysis. In some recent work done at Battelle, results were obtained which shed more light on the titanium-rich end of the titanium-boron system. Iodide-type titanium and high-purity crystalline boron were used in this investigation. The boron was prepared by hydrogen reduction of boron tri-bromide and deposition on a hot tungsten wire. The alloys were prepared by arc melting in an argon atmosphere of 10 cm Hg pressure on a water-cooled copper hearth. The ingots were hot rolled to strip at 850°C. Alloys containing up to 1 pct B could be hot rolled. Those containing 2 pct or more B could not be hot rolled. Metallographically, it was found that a second phase was present in alloys containing as little as 0.4 pct B, and that the quantity of second phase increased with increasing boron content. This is illustrated in Figs. la and lb, which show the microstructures of a Ti-0.4B and a Ti-1B alloy annealed in argon at 850°C. X-ray diffraction patterns of alloys containing 1 and 5 pct B revealed the presence of extra lines which correspond to the superlattice lines reported by Ehrlich.' However, no evidence was found of a shift in the lattice constants of alpha titanium indicating that there is very little, if any, solubility of boron in alpha titanium. This fact, coupled with the fact that the alloys were definitely two-phase, indicates that the extra lines are not superlattice lines, but are more probably the result of a second phase of a hexagonal structure almost identical in cell

Jan 1, 1952

By D. H. Newland

New York has a small but not insignificant place in the oil and natural gas industries of the United States. It has had a continuous record as an oil producer since 1872, with an aggregate yield of about 104,000,000 bbl. The reported output for 1935 was 4,237,000 bbl., a gain of more than 10 per cent for the year and a total that has been exceeded only in the early period of flush production half a century ago. The industry has been steadily building up since 1920 with the successful practice of the water drive, which has given a new lease of life to pools that had been practically drained of oil recoverable by pumping. An additional output of 2000 bbl. or more per acre is being procured by this method. Altogether the fields in New York State cover about 55,000 acres. Their limits are well defined and it is unlikely that they will be extended in the future, although there is some prospect of finding additional supplies by deeper drilling. The oil from New York is all classed as Pennsylvania grade, for which the recent price has been about $2.50 a barrel. It is refined at Olean, Wellsville and Bolivar, in the oil district, and partly in Pennsylvania refineries. Exploration for natural gas, outside of the established districts, was considerable during the year. Altogether 59 wells were drilled, distributed over 13 counties, of which 33 were listed as producers and 26 were dry. At the close of the year, 13 wells were in process of drilling. The 33 producing wells had a combined estimated flow of 278 million cubic feet per day. The best results were obtained from exploration in Allegany County, where out of eight wells drilled to the Oriskany sandstone five were successful and showed a combined open-flow capacity of 107 million cubic feet. The Oriskany sandstone was encountered at a depth of 4500 to 4900 ft. In Steuben County, next east of Allegany County, two out of seven wells to the Oriskany proved productive, and one of these, in the town of Greenwood, on the Watkins structure, was probably the largest that has so far been opened in the state, with a reported yield of 35 million a day. In the central part of New York interest was awakened by the activity shown in exploring for gas in the Trenton limestone, in Camden, Florence and Rome townships, Oneida

Jan 1, 1936

By D. H. Newland

New York has a small but not insignificant place in the oil and natural gas industries of the United States. It has had a continuous record as an oil producer since 1872, with an aggregate yield of about 104,000,000 bbl. The reported output for 1935 was 4,237,000 bbl., a gain of more than 10 per cent for the year and a total that has been exceeded only in the early period of flush production half a century ago. The industry has been steadily building up since 1920 with the successful practice of the water drive, which has given a new lease of life to pools that had been practically drained of oil recoverable by pumping. An additional output of 2000 bbl. or more per acre is being procured by this method. Altogether the fields in New York State cover about 55,000 acres. Their limits are well defined and it is unlikely that they will be extended in the future, although there is some prospect of finding additional supplies by deeper drilling. The oil from New York is all classed as Pennsylvania grade, for which the recent price has been about $2.50 a barrel. It is refined at Olean, Wellsville and Bolivar, in the oil district, and partly in Pennsylvania refineries. Exploration for natural gas, outside of the established districts, was considerable during the year. Altogether 59 wells were drilled, distributed over 13 counties, of which 33 were listed as producers and 26 were dry. At the close of the year, 13 wells were in process of drilling. The 33 producing wells had a combined estimated flow of 278 million cubic feet per day. The best results were obtained from exploration in Allegany County, where out of eight wells drilled to the Oriskany sandstone five were successful and showed a combined open-flow capacity of 107 million cubic feet. The Oriskany sandstone was encountered at a depth of 4500 to 4900 ft. In Steuben County, next east of Allegany County, two out of seven wells to the Oriskany proved productive, and one of these, in the town of Greenwood, on the Watkins structure, was probably the largest that has so far been opened in the state, with a reported yield of 35 million a day. In the central part of New York interest was awakened by the activity shown in exploring for gas in the Trenton limestone, in Camden, Florence and Rome townships, Oneida

Jan 1, 1936

By Arch J. Alexander

Coal is produced, in commercial quantities, in thirty-five of the fifty-five counties of West Virginia. Oil and gas are produced, commercially, in forty-two counties. So, you may readily see that coal, oil and gas arc closely related as to production areas. Many of the West Virginia coal mines are studded with oil and gas wells, as drilling has been done in thirty-two of the coal bearing counties. When the drilling of oil and gas wells was placed under the regulatory control of the Department of Mines on June I, 1929, it was estimated, by the State Geological Survey, that 64,000 wells had been drilled in West Virginia and that 34,000 wells were then being operated as oil and gas producers. No records of many of these remaining 30,000 abandoned wells exist and some of them remain a standing menace to safety as our coal extraction continues. Of a total of 13,100 new wells drilled since June 1929, approximately 5200 have been drilled through coal measures. Approximately 7000 wells, which were drilled through coal measures, have been abandoned in the same period of time. Many of these wells were drilled prior to the enactment of the oil and gas laws. Prior to the enactment of the Oil and Gas Law, which established the Oil and Gas Division of thc Department of Mines in 1929, there had been several mine ex-plosions attributable to cutting into un- charted wells and the improper plugging of other wells. The most serious explosion was that of Mines No. 47 and No. 49 of the Consolidation Coal Co. in Marion Co., when one of the so-called plugged wells leaked or seeped through some 80 ft of strata to the coal bed elevation, filling the mine with gas, the gas being ignited, killing a good many men and wrecking two coal mines. Legislation, to combat well hazards to coal mines, was slow in coming. In 1928, R. M. Lambie, then Chief of the Dept. of Mines, got sufficient support from coal, oil and gas interests to get the legislature to pass our present oil and gas laws. These statutes not only protected the coal industry but went a long way toward conserving the oil and gas resources of our state. Before drilling for oil or gas on any tract of land, known to be underlaid with one or more workable seams of coal, the well operator is required to submit a map of the area showing the location of the proposed well, and to send a copy to the Dept. of Mines and a copy to the coal operator. If no objections to the location of the proposed well are made by the coal operator within ten days, a drilling permit and a number for the well are then issued and work may proceed. If, however, the location of the proposed well is objected to by the coal operator, on the grounds that the location of the well will interfere with present mine operations, projected workings, or otherwise cause a dangerous condition, the operator may file a written objection with the Dept. of Mines.

Jan 1, 1949

By Basil B. Zavoico

Production of crude oil in the U.S.S.R. during 1940 is estimated at 222,600,000 bbl., as compared with the revised figure for the preceding year of 220,866,000 bbl., an increase of 0.79 per cent, and at least 20 per cent under the planned output. Baku district (Transcaucasus) remained the outstanding producing area, accounting for 72.33 per cent of the country's production, and this relative importance of the Apsheron Peninsula oil fields will probably continue lor many years to come. In the North Caucasus the Grozny-Dagestan area further extended its decline and the current production in this district amounts to only 6.06 Per cent Of the total U.S.S.R. output, as compared with 35.76 Per cent in 1931 The production of the Kuban-Maikop district remained virtually ullchanged from the preceding year, amounting to 7.64 per cent of the country's total. The Caucasian Province, therefore, in I940 produced 86.03 Per cent of the total production of the U.S.S.R. The promising new Permian Basin district, called Ural-Volga, and referred to sometimes as the "Second Baku," increased its production appreciably during 1940 and the output of that area amounted to 8.31 per cent of the country's total, as compared with 6.35 per cent during 1939. Production in the secondary districts of Russia continued unchanged though some new discoveries in the Emba salt-dome basin suggest that the output of that district may show some increase during the coming years. The drilling operations in Russia during 1940 reached a stage of virtual breakdown and the original footage plans were fulfilled only to the extent of around 50 per cent, while exploration drilling schedules were fulfilled only to the extent of about 25 to 35 per cent. This condition was due to the obvious lack of modern drilling rigs, of good drill pipe and of strong casing. Extended breakdowns occurred with deeper drilling, particularly because with few good drilling rigs available speed was being attempted with rotation rates that the inferior drill pipe and bits could not stand. Twistoffs and endless fishing jobs resulted. The difficulties became so serious a handicap to the Soviet oil industry that it was found imperative to order American drilling equipment and pipe in quantity, a policy that was never favored in the U.S.S.R because it requires expenditure of gold or exchange in major volume, and such exchange usually is reserved only to less bulky key items or to orders directly connected with armaments; also, oil-field machinery is very bulky and the prevailing lack of bottoms makes the transport of the indicated equipment a major problem. But little progress was similarly made in other branches of the Soviet oil industry. NO new major pipe-line construction work was undertaken, consequently the railroads continued to be overburdened with traffic that could be much more effectively handled by pipe lines. No new refinery construction of any magnitude was initiated, though several plants that had been in course of construction for several years were completed during 1940 and operation 554

Jan 1, 1941

By Basil B. Zavoico

Production of crude oil in the U.S.S.R. during 1940 is estimated at 222,600,000 bbl., as compared with the revised figure for the preceding year of 220,866,000 bbl., an increase of 0.79 per cent, and at least 20 per cent under the planned output. Baku district (Transcaucasus) remained the outstanding producing area, accounting for 72.33 per cent of the country's production, and this relative importance of the Apsheron Peninsula oil fields will probably continue lor many years to come. In the North Caucasus the Grozny-Dagestan area further extended its decline and the current production in this district amounts to only 6.06 Per cent Of the total U.S.S.R. output, as compared with 35.76 Per cent in 1931 The production of the Kuban-Maikop district remained virtually ullchanged from the preceding year, amounting to 7.64 per cent of the country's total. The Caucasian Province, therefore, in I940 produced 86.03 Per cent of the total production of the U.S.S.R. The promising new Permian Basin district, called Ural-Volga, and referred to sometimes as the "Second Baku," increased its production appreciably during 1940 and the output of that area amounted to 8.31 per cent of the country's total, as compared with 6.35 per cent during 1939. Production in the secondary districts of Russia continued unchanged though some new discoveries in the Emba salt-dome basin suggest that the output of that district may show some increase during the coming years. The drilling operations in Russia during 1940 reached a stage of virtual breakdown and the original footage plans were fulfilled only to the extent of around 50 per cent, while exploration drilling schedules were fulfilled only to the extent of about 25 to 35 per cent. This condition was due to the obvious lack of modern drilling rigs, of good drill pipe and of strong casing. Extended breakdowns occurred with deeper drilling, particularly because with few good drilling rigs available speed was being attempted with rotation rates that the inferior drill pipe and bits could not stand. Twistoffs and endless fishing jobs resulted. The difficulties became so serious a handicap to the Soviet oil industry that it was found imperative to order American drilling equipment and pipe in quantity, a policy that was never favored in the U.S.S.R because it requires expenditure of gold or exchange in major volume, and such exchange usually is reserved only to less bulky key items or to orders directly connected with armaments; also, oil-field machinery is very bulky and the prevailing lack of bottoms makes the transport of the indicated equipment a major problem. But little progress was similarly made in other branches of the Soviet oil industry. NO new major pipe-line construction work was undertaken, consequently the railroads continued to be overburdened with traffic that could be much more effectively handled by pipe lines. No new refinery construction of any magnitude was initiated, though several plants that had been in course of construction for several years were completed during 1940 and operation 554

Jan 1, 1941

By Y. H. Liu, R. Kiessling

The chromium, iron, and tungsten borides have been treated with ammonia at different temperatures. They are attacked, forming metal nitride and boron nitride, and the results are summarized in the tables. In the tungsten-nitrogen system a new phase has been observed, closely related to the known ß phase. THE present investigations were begun to determine whether any ternary phases exist in the transition metal-boron-nitrogen systems for the metals chromium, iron, and tungsten. Attempts to prepare such phases were made by using the borides of the metals as starting materials and ammonia as the nitriding agent. Although no new ternary phases have been found to exist, the results may be of some interest with regard to the technical use of the borides. General Procedure A steady stream of dry ammonia was passed through a silica reaction tube, the central part of which was kept at the reaction temperature while its ends were water-cooled. Weighed amounts of the borides were placed in a silica or porcelain boat and heated at different temperatures for a period of 10 to 24 hr. The boat was then rapidly removed from the reaction zone to the quenching zone, the water-cooled end of the tube, by means of a simple magnetic device. The nitrogen content of the products was determined by the increase in weight of the specimens, and the phase analysis was carried out by X-ray methods. For this analysis a Guinier-type camera, constructed at this Institute, was used with a bent, ground quartz crystal monochromator. The general reaction, which occurred in all the experiments, may be summarized as: metal boride + nitrogen -* boron nitride + metal nitride For the higher temperatures pure metal was formed instead of metal nitride. It is sometimes difficult to Discussi detect boron nitride among the reaction products by X-ray methods. Prolonged exposures of some specimens showed, however, that the strongest reflections of boron nitride were present. Additional evidence for its presence was given by the increase in weight of the specimens after nitriding. This increase was always greater than that corresponding to nitride formation only and was often in close agreement with the formula given above. Finally, a white powder, which was shown by X-ray methods to be boron nitride, was left if the reaction products after nitriding Fe,B at 448°C and FeB at 768°C were dissolved in diluted sulphuric acid. Ch rom iu m - Boron - N itrogen Five phases have been found to exist in the Cr-B system,' , and all were used as starting materials. Investigations on the Cr-N system have shown the existence of two nitrides with ideal composition Cr,N and CrN.".' * The results are summarized in Table I. All the borides are attacked and decomposed into chromium nitride and boron nitride, and the kind of nitride formed depends only on the temperature and not on the boride used as starting material. The lowest reaction temperature, however, is different for the different borides. Thus the 6 phase begins to react at about 735 "C, the r phase at about 800°, the S phase at about 900°, the 7, phase

Jan 1, 1952

By E. T. Knight, John D. Gill

Much has been written and said concerning the alleged wasteful and uneconomic use of natural gas and petroleum. Espccially condemned has been the use of natural gas for the production of carbon black and the use of heavy fuel oil under steam boilers.' The critics of these usages of gas and oil have sought to make effective their verbal attacks on the industry by the repetitive expression of the words "inferior" and "superior" uses2 of petroleum. Thus, to employ natural gas for residential heating was to use it in a superior way; to use it for the production of carbon black was to use it in a wasteful and uneconomic way. To use petroleum for the production of automotive fuel was to use it in a superior way; to employ it as a residential fuel and as the prime source of power in an industrial plant was to use it in an inferior and uneconomic way. No doubt the objections to such employment of gaseous and liquid natural hydrocarbons originated in the belief that natural gas and petroleum are limited, nonregenerative mineral resources, and that the functions they perform can be just as well performed by other natural resources like coal13 of which practically unlimited reserves are known. The generations that have dominated each of the last four decades have counted reserves4 of petroleum in terms of a few years supply. Meanwhile, domestic demand for motor fuel rose spectacularly from a few million barrels in 1900 to more than 500,000,000 bbl. last year.5 The more imaginative and vocal critics drew startling word pictures of the catastrophe of 25,000,000 motor vehicles made useless and of the great automotive manufacturing and allied industries brought to an untimely end, and millions of workers left hopelessly unemployed by what they called the deplorably rapid depletion of the petroleum reserve. Many of the critics have been sincere advocates of the conservation of natural resources; many others, and in recent years probably the majority, have espoused the doctrine of conservation to promote their own self-interest rather than that of the public. The latest advocate of severe restriction in the use of petroleum for the alleged purpose of conserving the petroleum resource proposes to achieve that end by a bill,6 now before

Jan 1, 1938

By I. I. Gardescu

Rumania produced during 1936 some 62,500,000 bbl. of oil. Of this production, 99 per cent comes from an area running east and west along the southern foothills of the Carpathian Mountains just north of Bucharest. This almost rectangular area measures 20 by 40 miles and is located in the districts of Dambovita and Prahova between the cities of Targovigte to the west and Mizil to the east. The remainder of the production is about evenly divided between the oil fields north and east of Mizil in the Buzh district and those to the north on the eastern flanks of the Carpathian Mountains in the district of Baciiu. The Transylvanian Basin to the north and west of the Carpathian Mountains has produced to date only dry gas from its numerous salt domes. Bucsani Field The Bucgani oil field produced 15,600,000 bbl., or 25 per cent of the total production of Rumania in 1936. Bucgani is a deep-seated salt dome 7 miles south of the old Moreni oil field. A slight surface doming, not dissimilar to the topography observed on some of the oil fields of the Californian basin, called attention to the area. It is the southernmost oil field and, together with the deep-seated and prolific Boldesti field, points to the great oil possibilities of the deep-seated domes along the northern edge of the Rumanian plains south of the Carpathian foothills. The Government is the principal owner of the oil and gas subsurface rights in the areas south of the foothills. The acquisition of leases by the operating oil companies may be made either by application for an exploration permit, the company being assigned part of the acreage in case of successful wildcatting, or, if the area has already been declared as proven territory, through competitive bidding. A block of 164 acres was auctioned recently for $200,000, or $1200 per acre. The largest producer in the Bucgani oil field is the Steaua Romana, which produced 39.5 per cent of the total for the field. The Steaua Romana is a post-war company and 50 per cent of its shares are owned by the British Steaua and the Steaua Franpaise and the other 50 per cent by a group of Rumanian banks and by the Government. The Colombia,

Jan 1, 1937

By W. Irwin Moyer

Two methods for the rapid valuation of oil properties are in common use. The one best known and most widely used is the "per barrel" value, based on the present daily production of the well, without regard to its past performance or the history of the sand or pool from which it produces. The second method is the "time to pay out," or the length of time required for a well to place itself upon the credit side of the ledger, from which time the returns from its production (less the operating expenses) will be clear profit. The time basis for valuation is also commonly used in the appraisal of an undeveloped lease. In most oil fields, it is not thought good business to invest in production that will not pay out in at least 4 to 5 years. Nearly all buyers (except in certain regions of very persistent production like the deep-sand territory of the Appalachian field) expect wells to pay out in considerably less time than this. Like the barrel per day price, the time necessary for a well to pay out has been determined for each field, so that one frequently hears a field or district referred to as having a certain time to pay out. This is considered the norm for that field or district and the buyer and seller base their value, to greater or less extent, on their belief in the accuracy of this time. The writer long ago became convinced of the inaccuracy of the barrel per day method, except when greatly modified for local conditions, such as the age of the wells, their economic limit, operating conditions in the field, the future price of oil, and the persistence of the sand as a producer. When so modified, this method becomes more of an analytic or predicted probable yield valuation. While the appraiser may not go through each step in a valuation based on future returnable revenue, his knowledge of the field and the local conditions surrounding his leases make it possible for him to estimate a fair sales value that, in many cases, will be a close approximation to the truth. This is quite different from the commonly understood barrel per day value, in that the conditions surrounding the sale of one lease or property at a fair market value may

Jan 1, 1922

By G. F. Fix, R. E. Esarey

During 1939, Indiana experienced a grcat increase in prospecting and drilling for oil and gas. Major activity, as during the preceding year, was in the southwestern part of the state, the Indiana portion of the Eastern Interior Coal Basin. An increasing interest was evident during the year, however, in the entire state, chiefly in northern Indiana (on the south flanks of the Michigan Basin) and in the old Trenton field of east central Indiana. In the latter area several tests to deeper horizons in the Trenton and to the underlying St. Peter sandstone were completed. Results in this area have been discouraging, however, since these deeper horizons are very erratic. The regional structure in the Indiana portion of the Michigan Basin is generally favorable to oil accumulation, but the picture is complicated by a uniform mantle of glacial drift and a lack of subsurface information. Several wells were started during the last half of 1939 to test the Devonian and Trenton formations in this area. Production from these formations was found at several localities many years ago, hut, no sustained effort has been made to locate pools in this area, which covers perhaps 20 counties. There were 377 wells completed in Indiana during 1939, and 77 others were in various stages of drilling at the close of the year. Of the 377 completed, 255 were classed as field locations and 122 as wildcats. The field wells were divided as follows: 156 oil wells, 39 gas wells, and 60 dry holes; the wildcats: 98 dry holes, 19 oil wells and 5 gas wells (wildcat oil and gas wells include deeper production in oil fields and field extensions as well as new field discoveries). During the year 218 more wells were completed than during 1938. Outstanding developments for 1939 include the discovery of several new oil and gas fields. In the Griffin field, which was discovered during the closing days of the previous year, 103 wells were drilled, including field extensions. Of these, 97 were productive oil wells. This field now covers more than 2000 acres of productive area and has not as yet been defined. There are five producing horizons in the field, including the Waltersburg, Tar Springs, Elwren, and Aux Vases sandstones of Chester age and the McClosky horizon of the Ste. Genevieve limestone. Produe-

Jan 1, 1940