"Rejuvenation"

An apparently exhausted oil field may be "rejuvenated" by a new water-flooding process which has been demonstrated practically in the fields of Bradford, McKeesport and Murraysville, Pa. In time the wells may refill and produce several times the quantity originally furnished. At Houston, Tex., the process was described by Roswell H. Johnson, well-known eugenist and professor of oil and gas production in the University of Pittsburgh, at the annual meeting of the American Association of Petroleum Engineers. The water is let into an old well; it spreads out through the saturated oil sands and shales, driving the oil ahead to other wells. Air and gas have been used for similar purposes. Even after a well has been retapped by this method, oil frequently remains in the finer sands, and may, after 20 years more, distribute itself through the area again. The petroleum resources of Pennsylvania amount to over 400 million barrels, though only 35 million barrels have been removed. By these recovery methods, a very high percentage of the latent oil could be salvaged. Professor Johnson is not an uncritical optimist, however; he believes we should in no way weaken the drive for conservation of these essential resources.