| Show OIL investment AND development IN southeastern UTAH editor times independent moab utah oil investment in utah at the present writing consists largely of developments upon the public domain by some of the larger oil companies of the country and by many that have not reached that stage of development where they may rely upon their own resources to finance drilling operations under the act of february 25 1920 there was ushered in a new law for mineral development on the public domain of the united states this act repeals andl supersedes the old placer and kindred acts for the location and development of oil and gas A citizen of the united states may obtain a permit for not exceeding 2560 acres or four sections of the public domain which permit requires the drilling of a well to a depth of feet during the first year and further continuous drilling operations to a depth of 2000 feet under the present law for good cause shown time for prosecution of drilling requirements may be extended in meritorious cases for a period of seven years practically the whole of the development for oil in the state of utah is being conducted under this act and many of these permits granted four and five years ago when the law first became effective and have by means of extensions of time been maintained in good standing especially is this true with reference to the greater number of permits situated in grand and san juan counties where the most intensive drilling operations in the state are now being conducted these permits in the main were acquired by people of small means that is by men who have not sufficient capital to conduct the drilling operations erat ions required by the terms of the in all such cases there are two general courses open to the for the development of his ground first he may contract with subsisting oil companies for tha development of his claim retaining to himself a royalty which usually is very scant or second he may join with other in the formation of a company to develop their several holdings in such case they take stock for their several interests and may perhaps also retain a royalty where contracts are let to the larger oil companies they are usually nothing more than an option wherein and whereby the large oil company will hold the permit indefinitely ini tely and usually to the period of expiration with the right to forfeit the same without development and without liability on failure of the company will forfeit his permit or at most be allowed only a very short period of time to perpetuate the same after surrena sur rend the company thi policy is not conducive to the best interest of the and the people of the state of utah as a whole this is obvious or the reason first that in the event of development and discovery the gets but a scant per cent royal be sold to the company at field market price which price is established by the company and second that he is running a long chance of forfeiting his permit entirely There fiore we believe that the best interest of the permit tees and the best interest of the state of utah as a whole will be found in the promotion of companies by the teea themselves to the end that the large oil companies will not gamer the lions share of production with ohly a pittance to those having actual ownership of the lands subject only bo government royalties it must be borne in miend however that the co operative development by permit tees depends upon the support which is given the enterprise by the public as a whole in other words the small oil company organized by permit tees for development purposes must depend upon the public for financing funds this plan when properly executed will result in the permit tees of the state reaping a greater return and will more materially teri ally contribute to the wealth of the state jg we now propose to show that it is to the best interest of the people of the state to lend their support to this manner of development of its oil lands in the first instance in the event development of the oil lands of the state is left exclusively to the large companies the entire oil bearing areas of the state will fall under their control and the permit tees will be entirely at the mercy of these oil companies and will be compelled to accept such meager royalties as these large companies condescend to pay the development of the oil fields of the stat will be materially retarded as the companies will take their own twp tap ard develio as they please many permie es will forfeit their claims without receiving anything at all thedor the for the wealth produced from the oil fields of the state will go bayord her borders and be lost to her citizens the vast army of con to the small companies rese energy has more than any other factor brought about the discovery of oil in utah will have sacrificed their investments and be denied a share in the wealth they have created and which 13 justly due the citizens of the state on the other hand if the of the state of utah will lend their support to the small companies composed of individuals who are not inclined to surrender their birthright for the pittance held out to them bv the large oil companies there will be a minimum of activity and discoveries made which the larger m companies will never make the people of the state will actually share in the wealth of the oil fields of the state it is only through association with small oil companies that the people can share in the oil wealth of the state the large companies are not offering the public an opportunity for investment and if and when they do tha public is not able to analyze the nature of the investment and are assuredly not permitted to participate on a basis of first cost investment then again the of money the ordinary investor can contribute would hardev be worthy lot notice to tho large oil company and yet such investment with a small company could readily yield for an investment of cents we submit that there are a number of small cami organized to op crate in the oil fields of grand and san juan counties who have prime holdings on prominent structures any of whom offers an excellent opportunity port unity for investment by the people of the state and who are entitled to the support of the people of the state without intending to exclude any we mention the following the big six oil company the colonder Colo nver oil company the bribar oil company the deseret petroleum company the empire petroleum company the equity oil company ithe western allies oil gas company the frances oil company the ashley valley oil company and others all organized under the laws of the state of utah officered and controlled by the people of ithe state the money invested in any of these companies will be expended in actual development of their respective holdings based upon the present development on the colorado river there can no longer be any question that a large and extensive oil field or fields will be opened up in grand and san juan counties and a vast acreage of these fields are now owned and controlled by the small oil companies of the state if these are not supported by the people of the state of utah it simply that their titles will be forfeited and the lands eventually pass into the hands of the large oil companies we have observed closely the newspaper articles published by one or more of ithe leading newspapers of the state and while these articles pretend to give the facts in relation to production in the cane creek well they are nevertheless whether purposely so or not very discouraging to the public by reason of these publications many people of the state are in doubt as to whether utah has an oil field such writings whether intended so to do or not have the effect of discouraging the small investor and delaying operations of the small cwi panics of the state while on ithe other hand it operates to the benefit of the large oil companies to take advantage of defaults of the smaller ones without being sponsors for fraudulent stock selling schemes the newspapers should encourage the people of the state in every legitimate endeavor to develop our oil fields i the people of bitah must first be impressed with the fact that a vast oil field will be developed in grand and san juan counties that it is the wealth of the state that the people of the state are entitled to the enjoyment of this wealth that unless they put their energy and their money behind the small fraction of the people of the state who for years past have stuck with the industry and brought about its development they will see the wealth of ithe state pass beyond its border and the only real benefit which the people of the state of utah vill receive will be such as may be derived through day labor and the sale of potatoes and beans to the ol 01 men very respectfully submitted KNOX PATTERSON moab utah |
