Production - Foreign - Oil Development in Peru in 1931

During 1931 Peru maintained its position as the ninth oil-producing country of the world, with an output somewhat greater than that of Trinidad and Argentina, and considerably less than for Colombia and Mexico. Outside of the three old producing fields, there was little or no activity of importance; no new areas were brought in and no extensive wildcat drilling was done. On the other hand, the old fields continued to produce at a rate only slightly below normal and such restriction as existed may be attributed to market and not to field conditions. Political disturbances during the spring led to several strikes in the field, causing temporary suspension of activities there. However, such troubles were of short duration and no permanent loss of production was sustained. The production in barrels during the past three years for the three coastal fields of Peru has been as follows: The oil industry in Peru is relatively old; 29 wells were drilled in the Negritos area between 1888 and 1898. Prior to 1900 the production was relatively insignificant but from 1900 until 1929, it has slowly but steadily increased to a maximum annual production of over 13,000,000 bbl. The potential production of the fields since 1939 has exceeded the production of those years; the actual production has been controlled by market conditions. The production of the property of the International Petroleum CO. since 1900 has been just over 100,000,000 bbl. The production from the Peruvian fields will doubtless remain for some years at approximately the same level as during the past few years.