VAST OIL MEASURES

Evening Star, Issue 21748, 16 June 1934, Page 4

VAST OIL MEASURES

UNDER BRITAIN’S MINES Deep down in the galleries of the lowest workings of half a dozen mines m the "Wigan area oil is oozing. It is coming from a vast underground sea, equally as rich as the Texan or Persian fields, according to Mr James A, Hnmpson, an engineer of Horwich, who has studied the question of oilbearing areas for eight vears. “ Beneath three places in Great Britain,” Air ITampsbu says, "there are vast reservoirs of oil waiting the intervention of man—in Scotland, Lancashire, and Kent. At present the oil is too thick. Its viscous state will not allow an easy flow sufficient to make it a working proposition. It is cold, and artificial heat is needed to transform it into a lighter oil.” Mr Hampson then told of a scheme which he .has provisionally patented in Britain and in Germany. An electrochemical process, it produces great heat in the oilfield, and causes the oil to burst forth as a gusher. Although this successful engineer has been invited to carry out experiments in the Silesian coalfields, lie prefers to carry out his process m the Wigan district, where, he states, “.my family have lived for 400 years.” He hopes to commence operations in the near future. The writer was then given an outline of Mr Hampsou’s investigations. “Oil, in the broad sense,” ho said, “is coal dissolved in hydrogen. In Scotland, Lancashire, and Kent there are, or have been, vast coal measures. Deeper down are coal measures which heat and chemical action have transformed into ojl.” By his investigations, extending over many years, Mr Hampson has determined that in these three places oil ■will he obtainable in abundance. “It is common knowledge that there is oil beneath Britain,” he said. “ Derbyshire and other places have proved that. But existing wells are not in the places where most oil can be obtained. They are getting oil from small breakaways in the geological system “ To achieve success in bringing the hidden wealth to the surface one must know the correct places to strike, and ] think 1 know exactly where I shall strike the greatest amount of oil.”