importing more than usual, because our steel industry has been down, and therefore the coke ovens have not been running and the amounts produced were less.

Mr. O'NEAL. Are there not a great many low-temperature oils that are imported from abroad?

Dr. FIELDNER. No; I think not.

Mr. O'NEAL. Is any study being made of the possibility of their greater production in this country?

Dr. FIELDNER. We are studying oils produced from low-temperature carbonization of coal at Pittsburgh now.

Mr. SCRUGHAM. Have you any statement, Mr. Cattell, with respect to these special studies that you contemplate making in the ensuing year?

Mr. CATTELL. The program that we will expect to follow in the next fiscal year will include, first, studies of pressure gradientsMr. SCRUGHAM. Can you express it in common language?

Mr. CATTELL. I will try to-with especial reference to well spacing. That work is being done at San Francisco.

Mr. SCRUGHAM. That is oil-well spacing?

Mr. CATTELL. That is a study of pressures and of variations in pressures, in the producing strata, with special reference to oil-well spacing, one of the most important problems in the industry.

Also, at San Francisco, we are conducting a study of prevention and treatment of oil-field emulsions. Those are mixtures of oil and water that are difficult to handle.

Third, a survey of the Rocky Mountain fields is to be continued from Laramie. This survey, in which the Geological Survey is cooperating, is to be followed by more specific studies in selected individual fields of the Rocky Mountain area.

Then, fourth, a three-part program relating to underground conditions in oil fields with special reference to estimation of reserves and methods of increasing ultimate recovery. That will proceed in three parts:

(a) A study of selected salt-dome, sand-reservoir fields of the Gulf coast in early stages of depletion, to be conducted from Dallas.

(b) A study of limestone-reservoir fields of southeastern New Mexico that are under active development, to be conducted from Amarillo. (c) A study of selected depleted "blanket-sand" fields to be conducted from Dallas.

This part (c) is a "post-mortem" examination of fields that have virtually been exhausted. By studying them, we can learn a lot about the estimating of reserves and methods that can be adopted to recover more oil from fields that are now being developed.

Fifth, we are studying gas-oil ratios in Gulf coast production, and expect to expand that work into a broader study of Gulf coast problems to be conducted from Dallas. The present study deals with the ratio of gas to oil in production. A fundamental basis of efficiency in the production of oil is to produce as little gas as you can with your oil. The gas furnishes the energy to drive the oil through the sand and up the well, and by reducing the gas produced with each barrel of oil, you can conserve the natural energy in the formation to produce more oil.

Then we have a two-part program carried on with the assistance of the American Gas Association, relating to natural gas. We have

had cooperative relations with the American Gas Association for 15 years, and have completed projects which they considered so valuable that they paid the cost of printing the reports themselves, because they wanted to send the information out to their industry before we could get it published through the Government Printing Office. That two-part program comprises―

(a) A study of gaging and controlling combination (oil-gas) wells to be continued by men headquartered at Bartlesville. This is a continuation of a study dealing with gas wells which developed a method of gaging gas-well deliveries that minimizes waste of gas, tells what production can be expected from a well under any given back pressure, and affords much information relative to faulty conditions in wells and means that may be adopted to correct them. The 210 page report resulting from this work was one of those paid for by the American Gas Association because they wanted it to be available immediately.

(b) A study of free ing in natural gas pipe lines (formation and effect of hydrocarbon hydrates) to be continued by men headquartered at Amarillo. This freezing that we are dealing with is not a freezing of water. It is a freezing of chemical combinations called hydrates, of hydrocarbons in the gas and water, which under high pressure will solidify at temperatures as high as 50° Fahrenheit. Operators have had trouble with those hydrates for many years, and did not know the source of the trouble. They were puzzled because the wells and pipe lines would freeze at temperatures far above the temperature of ice; now we know that the difficulties are caused by these chemical compounds. High pressure is conducive to formation of hydrates and difficulties from their formation have been increasing in recent years, because operators are using higher pressures in their transmission. lines.

Mr. SCRUGHAM. Are there any further questions?

Condense that as much as possible. It is getting late.

Mr. CATTELL. Seventh is a study of pressures and temperatures in wells and methods of using such data in solving oil-production problems, to be continued by the men headquartered at Bartlesville. Work of this kind is putting oil production on a true engineering basis. Eighth, studies of compressibility of gaseous mixtures, physical and thermal properties of oil-gas mixtures, and characteristics of natural reservoir fluids, to be continued by the men headquartered at Amarillo and Bartlesville. This work is giving operators knowledge of the characteristics and behavior of the fluids in their natural underground reservoirs, where conditions are markedly different from those at the surface.

Ninth, studies of methods of increasing recovery of oil and flow of oil and gas through sands, to be continued by men headquartered at Bartlesville.

Mr. SCRUGHAM. What do you mean by that? Do you mean the flow of oil? You cannot increase the oil itself, can you?

Mr. CATTELL. The oil industry recovers only a very small proportion of the oil that is actually in the sand. Our studies are directed toward a larger ultimate recovery of that oil.

There are two things of great importance in that study. One is to understand the physical laws governing the flow of oil and gas

through sands. The other is to know what energy is available to move the oil and how it can be utilized most effectively.

Then, under item 10, there are oil and gas engineering studies in Oklahoma and Kansas, to be carried on under the direction of the Bartlesville station. Much of this work will be done in cooperation with agencies of those States.

Eleventh, a report on analysis of natural gas, giving results of analyses of samples collected from the western part of the United States, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. That study is carried on at Amarillo.

That covers the studies which fall under our production group. Then, in our chemical and refining studies, there are the studies of the cracking of the black oils of the Rocky Mountains, and the possibilities of these oils for the manufacture of asphalt, which studies are conducted at Laramie. That program is very important to the oil industry in the Rocky Mountains where they have these resources of high-sulphur oils that are hard to refine.

Next, analyses of crude oils and oil field waters, surveys of the characteristics of the motor gasoline being sold throughout the country. development of improved methods of analyzing crude oil, and a broad study of more efficient utilization of petroleum, continued at Bartlesville.

For a number of years the Division has collected samples of crude oils from the various fields and analyzed them by a uniform method. This work has resulted in the most comprehensive collection of samples and analyses ever assembled, and the development of a recognized system of classifying crude oils.

Numerous reports have been published presenting tabulated analyses and discussing crude oils from many areas. Most of the work has dealt with domestic crude oils, but in order to give American operators a basis for comparing their oils with those from foreign fields, representative samples have been collected from other parts of the world. A report on crude oils of the Eastern Hemisphere now is in press, and papers on crude oils from Michigan, Kansas, and northern Louisiana are being prepared. Many of the analyses are reported by means of press releases to avoid any delay in getting the information to the industry.

Along with this work on analyses of crude oils, the Division analyses oil-field waters to provide data which are useful in solution of many problems.

The

Then we have our group of special studies, which include problems that do not fall directly under either of the foregoing classifications but which often have to do with both of those classifications. most active work under these special studies will be a continuation of the studies of control and disposal of oil-field brines, that we have been carrying on in cooperation with the Kansas State Board of Health. We are doing some work of that kind in Oklahoma, and hope that we can extend it further, and go into other States. We believe that that work is of inestimable benefit.

At San Francisco, under these special studies, we are doing some work on the treatment of mud fluids for drilling. At Bartlesville there are studies of difficulties from corrosion that are closely related to the oil-field brine problem and rejuvenation of old fields by

artificial "water drive", and throughout all of our work, we give careful attention to safety-to the protection of the lives of menunder this special group of studies.

That covers in a brief way the program that we contemplate. Mr. SCRUGHAM. Thank you, Mr. Cattell. You have presented that very ably, and I think that this is a most important work. Are there any further questions?

Mr. RICH. I would just like to ask the doctor what cooperation he is receiving from the oil industry in the development of this branch of conservation.

Mr. CATTELL. All of our work is done, or practically all of it, cooperatively. We receive excellent support and excellent cooperation from the industry, from the various States, and other organizations. Our Bartlesville station receives and has been receiving a little over $40,000 per year from the State of Oklahoma. We now have two cooperative agreements with the State of Kanas covering the work in that State.

Last year we completed a study in Michigan, with the cooperation of the State of Michigan, and, as I indicated a while ago, we have had cooperative relations for 15 years with the American Gas Association. All of those cooperative projects involve the actual furnishing of funds by the other agencies.

Mr. SCRUGHAM. Is there any considerable amount of money furnished by other agencies to assist in such studies as you are making? Mr. CATTELL. Considering direct funds, the funds from the State of Oklahoma represent the largest amount. Those from the State of Kansas come next. At Laramie, the University of Wyoming supplies a building for our work. The amount that has been supplied directly by the American Gas Association has been relatively small, but the individual companies in the Gas Association have spent many thousands of dollars supplying and preparing wells, pipe lines and things of that sort for us to test, and in assisting our engineers in their work. They have turned wells over to us for experimental work. They have allowed us to test long pipe lines, to determine the physical laws governing the flow through the lines, and develop and check pipe-line-flow formulas. We tested many lines owned by commercial concerns in our study of leakage from pipe lines at considerable expense to the owners. Of course the owners of the lines tested and all other pipe-line operators benefitted from the work. Aoil and gas companies have supplied men to help us, have turned their properties over to us for our work, and have spent a great deal of their own money in cooperating with us.

One more item, if I may mention it. There was a confusion in names here a little while ago. Evidently a letter was received by the Committee making some criticism of the Bureau's work in forecasting demand. In connection with that, the name of Independent Petroleum Association of America was used.

That letter did not come from the Independent Petroleum Association of America. It came from a marketing organization

Mr. RICH. The Independent Petroleum Jobbers Association of Pennsylvania.

Mr. CATTELL. Yes. The Independent Petroleum Association of America is an association of independent operators, largely producers,

139751-37-pt. 1——31

and you will find that that association is a hearty supporter of all of the Bureau's work relating to petroleum. I would like to read four sentences from a statement made by the general counsel of that association before the Senate committee.

Mr. SCRUGHAM. All right. Furnish that to the reporter.
Mr. CATTELL. It is just four short sentences.
Mr. SCRUGHAM. All right.

Mr. CATTELL (reading):

* * *

The petroleum industry is a unit in recognizing the value of the work done by the Bureau of Mines on oil and gas problems. No other governmental agency of this type has been of such value to the industry as has this Bureau. Its importance can hardly be over-estimated the industry and the Administration have been greatly helped by the data collected and the careful studies made by this Bureau.

Mr. SCRUGHAM. Thank you, Doctor.
Mr. LAMBERTSON. Who was that by?
Mr. CATTELL. Russell Brown.

* * *

ASSISTANCE OF THE BUREAU IN STRATEGIC WAR MINERAL PROBLEM

(See p. 466)

Mr. SCRUGHAM. Dr. Finch, we would like to have you take the stand a moment.

Before closing the hearings on the budget of the Bureau of Mines, I would like a further statement inserted in the record by the Director of the Bureau covering the possibilities of your organization in assisting in the strategic or deficiency war mineral problem that now faces this country in such an acute degree.

Dr. FINCH. In 1935 the Bureau's Mining Division, consulting with geologists of the Geological Survey, made estimates in great detail on a number of projects for the exploration of strategic deficient minerals as a proposed means of relief employment. This was to be done with W. P. A. labor.

Some of the figures that I shall give you for suggested work of the Mining Division are derived from those estimates, revised to conform to present commercial wage rates and costs of equipment.

I might state also that the work that the Bureau could do in this field involves not only the Mining Division, but also the Metallurgical Division. I shall not give all of the strategic minerals, but will illustrate what can be done with certain ones that I regard as perhaps most important.

First, as to chromite. Extensive investigations of chromite ores from Montana, Wyoming, California, and Oregon have been made by the Metallurgical Division. Entirely satisfactory methods have been developed for concentration of these ores to the grade corresponding to substantially pure chromite mineral by gravity, magnetic separation and flotation. In many cases this grade is only 40 to 44 percent Cr2O, or too low for standard ferrochrome practice. Treating this low-grade mineral to give pure chromium or high-grade ferrochrome has been studied in the laboratory and promising progress made. Methods for producing pure chromium chloride cheaply have been developed. The reduction of this compound to chromium is under study. To make this country independent of foreign chromium, these investigations need to be pushed to larger scale tests and a more