The Story of Finding Oil - An Overview of World Oil History

Author: Wang Cailiang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-07-01
Features: "The Philosophy of Finding Oil" Wallace Pratt retired in 1945. However, he did not stop pursuing science. In 1952, his paper "The Philosophy of Finding Oil" was published in the journal of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists and received high praise from the world of petroleum geology. This paper summarized his lifelong experience in oil exploration. He emphasized that petroleum geologists must liberate their minds, think creatively, and dare to take the initiative.
In this article, Pratt acknowledged "the remarkable development of efficient exploration technologies over the past 40 years," but he pointed out that even the most advanced exploration techniques are insufficient to complete the global task of finding oil. There are also serious obstacles to the success of oil exploration that cannot be solved solely with exploration technology. These obstacles come from people's minds. He gave two examples: First, in 1920, the chief geologist of the U.S. Geological Survey, David White, pessimistically claimed that U.S. oil would be depleted, advocating that the annual oil production should not exceed 450 million barrels (approximately 65 million tons). In 1921, the American Association of Petroleum Geologists also made a similar pessimistic estimate. It was later proven that this pessimistic view was wrong, yet most people at the time agreed with it.
The second example is that because world geological authorities had said there would be no oil in Arabia, the three largest oil companies in the world ignored Kuwait before 1937. However, Gulf Oil discovered the massive Burgan oil field in Kuwait.
Pratt pointed out that these stories illustrate how people's mental state can become an insurmountable obstacle to oil exploration. "An oil explorationist must act based on his understanding of the distribution of oil in the area he explores." "An oil finder can never know all the circumstances they encounter." "He must always keep a clear mind." "If we claim to understand an area completely when we do not, we may mistake an oil-rich place for one that has none."
Pratt emphasized, "Imagination is an indispensable quality for a successful oil finder." "Ultimately, the first place to find oil is in people's minds." "If no one believes that there is more oil to be found, then more oil fields will not be discovered."