I have been reading “Wildcatter” oilmen, and how they would prospect for oil at times uncertain if there was any oil to be found. What I would like to know, is how did they try to discover oil in the first place?
Would they dig a hole and try to hit oil? Would they just set up an oil rig and start drilling into the ground?
Could this be done by one person, or two? Or would you need an entire crew to do it?
I imagine alot of people when they bought an oil plot, staked all their money on it and could’nt afford a crew.
In: Technology
Wayyyyyy back when there were natural oil seepages to the surface that people would find. After that drilling near one of those reached the same near-surface pocket. After that it was literally hit or miss often using dowsing rods
What’s reflected on the surface can indicate what’s in the subsurface. See that hill over there? There’s a good chance whatever created that hill on the surface created a subsurface “hill” or dome as well. This is known as a trap and can hold accumulated oil and gas. Let’s drill around that hill and see what we get.
Get some gas bubbles in that water well you dug? Maybe there’s more if we dig deeper, let’s drill around that area the farmers keep getting gas cut water.
Or, the old tried and true wildcat method of riding around on your horse until your hat fell off and drilling a well where it landed.
You’ve got to watch the Beverly Hillbillies. Seriously.
https://images.app.goo.gl/WMDMjWCyozqfud52A
Come and listen to my story
‘Bout a man named Jed
A poor mountaineer,
Barely kept his family fed.
And then one day
He was shootin’ at some food,
And up through the ground came a-bubblin’ crude.
Oil that is, black gold, Texas tea.
Oil seepages on the surface indicated oil below. The first wells were literally dug by hand with shovels. Interesting fact: Oil was unknown to be in Libya until after WWII. During the North Africa campaign positions were lost and regained by both sides as the advantage went back and forth. Both sides accused the other of poisoning the water wells by dumping oil in them when they retreated. It wasn’t until after the war that it was discovered that the oil in the wells came from natural oil seeps in the area.
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