Abstract
SOME observations on this subject were made by Mr. J. W. Weil in a paper read before the Institution of Petroleum Technologists on October 11. The paper was perhaps timely as representing the case for petroleum geology taking its logical place in the systematic scheme of oil production. Latterly there has been a decided tendency to interpret underground reservoir conditions—even geological data—on the basis of such functions as flowing pressures, oil and gas measurements, gas-oil ratios and other physical determinations which have been advanced as part of the standard technique of production engineering. The author pleads, and rightly so, for a thorough geological investigation as precedent to oilfield development and, in this connexion, he stresses the necessity of adequate study of stratigraphy, structure, factors influencing the accumula-tion of oil and gas, data necessary for correlation of horizons and the construction of stratigraphical and production maps. While there is clearly nothing strikingly new in this communication, the paper will have done good if it directs the attention of those primarily concerned to the fact that, while geology may be substantially aided by the applications of its contact sciences, its principles as governing the understanding of sub-surface oil pools can never be superseded.
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The Study of an Oilfield. Nature 130, 842–843 (1932). https://doi.org/10.1038/130842d0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/130842d0