Valuation Factors Of Casing-Head Gas Industry

THE utilization of casing-head gas in the manufacture of casing-head gasoline by both the absorption and the compression method is a most important factor in the conservation of our natural resources.. Any industry connected with the oil business, in general, possesses particular attraction for a large number of people not conversant with its basic principles, for the reason that the large fortunes made in the production and utilization of petroleum and its products have been given undue prominence. The general impression of the public that enormous profits are to be realized in the casing-head gas industry with minimum expenditures of both capital and effort has, in a large measure, accounted for the phenomenal expansion of the industry in recent years and, likewise, has resulted in many mistakes and loss of investment funds. It is true that many installations have been very profitable, but such instances are always the result of careful planning, experienced judgment and conservative estimates. The inception and subsequent activity in the manufacture of casing-head gasoline, enabling the business to assume an important position in the petroleum industry, are of, comparatively recent origin, as its greatest growth, particularly in Oklahoma, occurred during the years 1917 and 1918. Much information must yet be secured and systematized concerning the methods of manufacture of gascline from high-yield casing-head gas, and a large field is still open for the application of accumulated experience and good engineering practice in devising better methods of extracting gasoline from casing-head gas of the poorer grades. The absorption process is coming into general use as a most efficient system of treating casing-head gas, and even so-called dry gas. In fact, there is a decided tendency toward the universal adoption of the absorption process as against compression methods. However, a general discussion of the relative merits of these two systems is not within the scope of this article.