Official report to the House of Representatives of the 58th Legislature of Texas Page: 11 of 94
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Mr. Murray stated:
.. . I commend your Committee very highly for the
public service I feel you have rendered with this excellent
statement pointing out the public's stake in
petroleum conservation.
He said that America and the rest of the world is vitally dependent on oil and energy,
for this is the most important factor of survival of civilization--so anything that
affects petroleum vitally affects the welfare of Texas, the security of the nation
and the future of civilization.
The East Texas Field is one of the most efficient producing
fields in the world. When the Russian group
of oil experts were here a little over a year ago, they
were amazed, and at first challenged our statement
that we were recovering approximately 80 per cent of
the oil in place in East Texas. Now, 80 per cent may
not seem so good unless you recognize that the average
is less than 25 per cent recovery.
He pointed out that directional drilling is nothing new.
. o . it has long been recognized in the industry that
directional drilling is a useful, necessary device. One
of the earliest directional drilled wells was the one that
was drilled to put out the famous blowout at Conroe,
which had gone wild for many months. Hundreds and
hundreds of thousands of barrels had gone down the
stream until a relatively new-comer in the oil business,
a Mr. Eastman from California, was brought in to drill
a directional hole, and he was successfully able to bottom
this hole beneath the vertical location of the blowout well
and they pumped mud and cement in and killed the well.
We use directional drilling on off-shore wells. . . We
use directional drilling to get the school children's oil
underneath riverbeds. . . You drill it on the shore and
bottom it under the riverbed. Those techniques have
long been known.
The first attempt to regulate directional drilling was in 1948 with statewide Rule
No. 54 which required advance permission to drill a directional hole and after
having completed it, required a verified directional survey by a third party survey
company sent directly to the Railroad Commission. Prior to 1948 there were no
requirements concerning the drilling of directional wells.
In 1950 the Oklahoma-Texas Trust Company had drilled a slanted well with
all documentation showing the well to be bottomed in compliance with the regulations.-10
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Texas Legislature. House of Representatives. General Investigating Committee. Official report to the House of Representatives of the 58th Legislature of Texas, book, 1963; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth5869/m1/11/?rotate=90: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .