PETROLEUM NEWS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 297, 19 May 1914, Page 3

PETROLEUM NEWS.

MKXIOAN OIL WELLS. Striking details of the growth of the oil industry in Mexico were given by a lecturer in London recently. It was stated {lint whilst only 19 of the 70 promising localities in Northern Vera Cruz had been tested, and although hut 50 of the 180 oil companies regi.-te.red in Mexico were actually working, the production had ri-vn from 1.WJ,000 t.o I -23,000,00!) ham-Is within six years. J Legend, traced the llr.-i- find of oil in j Mexico to the Totamac Indians, one o F the A?.tc& tribe,;, who, wandering on the | shore of j.he t.ulf, found patches of i chapopoto {a heavy asplialtic oil) washed up by tho sea. In ISiill the (lis- | coverer of Angostura Bitters discovered 1 the oil springs of C'ugas. He exploited : the oil by tunnelling into the side of the ! hill from which it exuded. In 1002 the 1 Pearson interest began drilling in the 1 .'.butlier-n end of the BUitc of Vera Cruz, but production did not begin on the large scale until l!i07. In 190 H the famous Dos Bocas well was struck, whinh after hurling the drilling gear • 150 ft. into the air, caught fire and : In nreied with flrmi'-s from 1000 ft. to'i 150!)l<t high. The lire was extinguished ! 53 (lays la lev. The Potrcro' del Llano I No. 4, probably the hrgcet well in the world ever placed under control, was j struck in December, 1010. The dully j flow at tir-t was estimated at 125.0(0 '' barrels. To-day the daily llow is limited . by the capacity of the pipe liii'-s to I 40,000 h.irro!s. For the tram-port or o;l j in Mexico 4 - 25 miles of pipe line lmve i been laid down, and 51 mile« of additional line are. in course of construction. | The oil tank .<■ learners at Tux pan are j loaded by means of pipe lines laid along j IkvS of -the sea to a terminal, one ! and a-hall'-milcs from the shore. Our- 1 were loaded in this v.vty, and the pump- ! ing facilities were sneh flint ships could be loaded at the rate of 10,1100 tons in 24 hours. I