New York Paper - Petroleum in the Philippines (with Discussion)

It has been 5 years since the writer left the Philippine Islands and while in that country his chief work did not lie in this field, though he has visited all but one of the localities mentioned in this article. The principal field studies relating to oil were M de by his colleague, Mr. Wallace E. Pratt. The writer's investigations ealt with the general stratigraphy and paleontology of the Philippines. with the exception of the investigations made by Mr. Pratt and the writer very little information on this subject is available. A number of geologists in the employ of large oil companies have visited the Islands from time to time but, following the general rule, the public has scarcely ever been permitted to learn anything of the results. The writer is indebted to the Bureau of Insular Affairs, Washington, for late information regarding recent legislation in the Islands relating to petroleum. All the known oil seeps, petroleum residues, such as ozocerite, and natural-gas emanations are associated with Tertiary sediments. The chief seeps and most promising prospects are located as follows: 1. Bondoc Peninsula (lower end), Tayabas Province, Southeast Luzon. 2. The west coast of the island of Cebü from Alegria north to, and perhaps beyond, Toledo. 3. Central Mindanao not far from Lake Lanao. 4. The ozocerite veins on the Island of Leyte in the northwestern part in the vicinity of the town of Villaba. 5. Natural gas from some deep wells in Tertiary shale formations on the eastern flank of the Cordillera and extending out under the plain on the island of Panay. The first mention in geological literature, to the writer's knowledge, of gas or petroleum in the Philippines is found in the description of the Island of Panay by the Spanish geologist, Abella, in the year 1890. In 1898, an oil well was being dug on the estate of Smith Bell & Co., an English concern, near the town of Toledo on the west coast of Cebu. In