Dalkeith Oil Hopes ,Realized?
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THE 20,000 gallons of oil which have been secured at Dalkeith, Midlothian, appear to be of excellent quality. An official of the Anglo-American Oil Co., which is working the claim under licence, says that the oil has been put straight into the tank of an oil-engined lorry, just as it came out of the ground, and that the lorry functioned perfectly.
Last week a lorry bearing a huge light-metal tank of oil—the first consignment from the only oil-producing well in Britain—left for the south; the vehicle itself was driven under the power of this new oil. Now, the race for the first " strike" having been won by the Anglo-American Co., at D'Arcy, the race towards the sales market is on.
Mr. A. H. Chapman. production manager of the Anglo-American •Oil Co., said that the oil, on analysis, showed a petrol-content of no less than 12 per cent, and a paraffin-content 'of 12 per cent. Other valuable ingredients were 15 per cent, of gas oil and a high residuum of good lubricating oil. Geologists and more than 40 oil experts are now working on the well, and it is confidently expected that within a few weeks, oil will be " gushing" out at the rate of 10,000 gallons a day. Other wells are to be sunk in the vicinity. The Anglo-American Oil Co. has secured the rights over a wide area.
Meanwhile the Anglo-Iranian Co., which has a neighbouring site, is close to a further supply of oil; oil gases have already been emitted from the bores of this company.
To-day the Navy relies almost entirely upon oil which comes from the Persian and Near East oilfields. In the event of , war, a home-supply would assume vital importance, although, at the moment, the Scottish supply is only a fraction of the gigantic import-figure. Before the finish of the Great War, experts from the Ministry of Munitions attempted to find oil at Dalkeith for Navy, use, but the scheme fell through after the Arrnistice: International events a year or two ago again set geologists, encouraged by the Government, on the trail of oil in Britain. Eleven thousand square miles in Britain are now under licence to various ..oll companies. Test bores were made in nearly 30 different places last year and Dalkeith is the first place to yield oil in commercial quantities. The oil has been found at a remarkably shallow depth at Dalkeith.' At Portsmouth an unsuccessful bore went down to 6,000 feet; in America wells are as deep as 15,000 feet. The 1,700-ft. well at .Dalkeith obviously holds out promise of. much more to come. All equipment is of the latest type as used on American oilfields, and most of the men have worked in the industry abroad.
The Government has taken special measures to avoid happenings such as those which marked the start of the American oil industry 70 years ago, when countless unnecessary wells were drilled in America, to prevent the " other fellow " from getting oil.
Britain's addition to the world oilfield-map is near the scene of the Scottish oil-shale industry, which extracts crude oil from the coal shale or Cannel found nearer the surface. Twenty million gallons of crude oil are produced each year by this method. C,ousland (Anglo-Iranian) has begun the erection of a new well half-a-mile from its present well, which, so far, has produced only indications of oil, but better and quicker results are hoped for. Experts intimate that the first two wells are regarded merely as test wells. The second, however, is a test of productivity, whilst there may be a third. , Prospecting is not confined to Midlothian, it is understood. The D'Arcy find has opened up wider prospects. At the moment Fife is being investigated minutely, and other parts of Scotland may soon be tapped.