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Show OIL SERVES THE NATION Not long ago a news item from a place called Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, announced that a new oil well had been brought in. Nothing very remarkable about that. Several hundred new oil wells go into production every week in the U. S. Nothing remarkable about this particular well's production, produc-tion, either 500 barrels of crude oil per day. Just a trickle compared to America's current needs of more than eight mil-v mil-v lion barrels a day. This Lousiiana well happens to be the world's deepest 22,570 feet but even this is not the remarkable thing about it. The really noteworthy aspect of the well in Plaquemines Parish is why anybody would tackle the job of drilling it. Only to make money? There are much surer ways. The chances against getting oil out of any hole drilled in unproved territory are nine to one. And the fact that no one had ever produced petroleum from such a depth made the unknowns and the chances of a total financial loss, phenominally higher, v - There are also much quicker and easier ways to go about turning a profit. The well in Louisiana took more than a year of sweat and guesswork to drill, and cost mere than two mil lion dollars. It will be a long, long time before the world's dee.-.t well pays for itself. And the team of big companies and ordinary men thar -indcrtook the drilling knew what the- ; were getting into. Tac geological reports showed how far down the oil lay if any. No. The world's deepest well was drilled because just making money the surest, quickets, easiest way is not enougi to live for, to work for. The men that pooled their dreams tc drill the well in Plaquemines Parish from corporation heads to roughnecks on the drilling platform were working to ere ate something new. They were exploring unknown horizons, , gaining new knowledge. They were finding out if something, that people need oil could be drawn from deeper in the earth than ever before. They were breaking the rule that says an oil well can be only so deep, and that men's aspirations aspira-tions can rise only so high. Men who work to create something new wildcat oil drillers, particularlyoften fail. But this time they succeeded succeed-ed That satisfaction went a long way toward paying for the well :n Plaquemines Parish. |