Abstract
A NEW record for deep oil well drilling has been established by the General Petroleum Corporation in the South Belridge Field, San Joaquin Valley, California, by the achievement of a depth of 11,377 ft. (approximately 2-15 miles). This is the first oil well which has been drilled to more than 11,000 ft. and must be considered a remarkable engineering achievement. The well was started in September 1930 and continued until March 1932 when, owing to a ‘cut’ in the development programme, operations were stopped. Drilling was resumed in August 1933 and the final depth recorded above was reached at the end of May of this year. An equally notable feature of this performance is that a substantial 4J-in. casing string has been landed successfully at the bottom. There have already been shows of oil and gas in this well, but these have to some extent been smothered by the enforced use of large quantities of very heavy mud held at between 104 and 112 Ib. per cubic foot to overcome the high gas pressures met with. The Oil Weekly of June 11 gives a detailed account of this well and concludes that improved technique and engineering equipment are the outstanding factors which have made this record possible.
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New Oil Well Drilling Record. Nature 134, 21 (1934). https://doi.org/10.1038/134021b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/134021b0