Petroleum Engineers Work
To Improve Oil Knowledge
Efforts to tap oils of the earth
have only scratched the surface,
but in the Department of Petro
leum Engineering-, methods of
deepening the scratch are being
researched, developed and taught.
Petroleum engineers develop
ways to reach nature-made steam,
develop packages for lowering
instruments into oil wells and at
the same time answer space ques
tions, work on fluid flow in the
human eye and develop methods
of making 25,000-foot deep oil
and gas accessible.
The deepest “wildcat” well,
near 25,000 feet, pierces only two
per cent of the earth’s radius.
Other frontiers faced by petro
leum engineers are offshore drill
ing, sound-proofed “downtown”
rigs, airlifting 1,500 tons of deep-
hole rig to Alaska, nuclear log
ging, liquifying gas and shipping
it refrigerated, storing gas in
former wells and drilling for
geothermal steam.
Primary research problems at
A&M seek producing techniques
for known oil deposits. Two-
thirds of the oil discovered is still
in place, not producible through
current technology.
“To get it will require engi
neering of the highest type,” said
Dr. Henry Ramey Jr., A&M
petroleum engineering professor.
Techniques under research in
clude combustion, water flooding,
steam injection and miscible
flooding along with old recovery
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methods. A&M research pro
jects also scrutinize fluid flow in
porous rocks, physical properties
of hydrocarbon fluids, pressure
maintenance and natural gas en
gineering, producing and storage
and drilling for geothermal
steam. Volcanically produced
steam has been harnessed by Ital
ians to produce electricity to
drive their trains.
Geothermal activity has been
discovered near the Salton Sea in
the U. S. The potential source of
chemicals (salts) and energy
bubbles out at 80 degrees Fahren
heit.
“The petroleum staff is re
searching this field at A&M,”
noted Robert Whiting, head of
the department. “We are deter
mining where to find it, how to
get it and applying oil technolo
gy-”
Sources of oil energy have been
discovered in Colorado shale and
Canadian Athabaska tar sands.
Processes such as strip mining
are required to produce the high
ly viscous oil. It can’t be pump
ed in ordinary fashion. Similar
deposits occur in Texas.
Petroleum engineers have an
interesting job, said Ramey. He
was involved in soundproofing a
drill rig in downtown Los An
geles. Oil technologists were
contacted by space people for in
strument packaging methods.
Petroleum engineers long ago
solved problems of penetrating
450 degree conditions of deep
holes. Space technologists have
much the same problem in mis
sile silos.
Oilmen in education and re
search must keep up with field
developments. Through such
travel as consulting engineers,
his routes can trace through Can
ada, Alaska, China and all over
the U. S.
A new petroleum student is en
tering the largest industry in the
U. S., bigger than the next five
combined.
Three quarters of the energy
used in the United States each
year comes from oil, Bureau of
Mines figures show. The per
centage will increase along with
rising demand. Providing more
energy will require many more
oil technologists than are being
trained.
A&M presently is training 110
petroleum engineers. The under
graduate enrollment is 78, 45 of
which are freshmen.
Texas produces 42 per cent of
the nation’s oil demand and has
a strong interest in the industry.
Evening School
Registration Open
Registration is underway for the
spring session of evening school
at Stephen F. Austin High
School, Director John Lucas, has
announced.
Classes will begin Monday at
6 p.m. and meet each Monday,
Tuesday, and Thursday until May
17.
Classes are open to any person
16 years of age or older not at
tending high school during the
day and who wishes to earn high
school credits or to further
knowledge and skill.
Courses will be offered in Eng
lish, history, government, science,
mathematics, bookkeeping, typ
ing, shorthand and art.
A large portion of state and A&M
revenue comes from oil produc
tion.
The Texas Petroleum Research
Committee, chaired by Whiting,
researches oil production and re
covery. The department offers
continuing education in short
courses on reservoir and drilling
engineering.
“The industry believes progress
will come on the basis of tech
nology. An oilman must con
tinue to educate himself. We’re
trying to do our part to offer ad
vance level work,” the depart
ment head said.
A background in science and a
strong mathematical mind is re
quired of petroleum engineers.
“It takes all kinds, but par
ticularly a mechanically-minded
sort and a large population of
doers,” Ramey said.
The industry requires men will
ing to take financial risks — a
“wildcat” has one chance in 30 of
“coming in” a producing well.
Many objects common to every
day usage attest the need for
more crude oil and its products.
A plastic toothbrush was once
a hydrocarbon gas, a component
of oil.
Sewage Group
Short Course
Here This Week
Texas’ Water and Sewage
Works Association holds its 48th
short school at Texas A&M
through Friday.
About 800 persons from across
the state registered, Sunday at
the Memorial Student Center.
Attending classes, meetings,
seminars, business sessions and
a Wednesday night awards ban
quet will be operators of water
and sewage plants, plant super
intendents and businessmen of
industrially affiliated firms.
Among feature speakers are
Dr. J. E. Peavy, Texas Com
missioner of Health, and G. R.
Herzig, secretary of the associa
tion and state sanitary engineer.
Peavy will present awards at
the Wednesday banquet.
To speak to the Texas Water
Pollution Control Association at
its business dinner Tuesday are
Arthur D. Caster of Cincinnati,
vice president of the national |
Water Pollution Control Federa- i
tion, and Gordon McCallum, .
formerly with the U. S. Public i
Health Service. He is now as
sistant to the president of In-
filco, a Tuscon, Ariz., firm.
Participants will be welcomed
by Dr. A. D. Suttle, Jr., A&M
vice president for research. As
sociation president is W. R. Har
dy of Fort Worth.
The short school has been held j
at A&M since 1936. The Texas |
State Department of Health, I
Southwest Section of the Ameri
can Water Works Association,
Texas Water Pollution Control
Association, Water Pollution
Control Federation, Civil Engi
neering Department and Engi
neering Extension Service co
operate in the school.
A&M’s Engineering Extension
Service provides most of the in
struction. Examinations for sew
age works operators and water
works operators certificates will
be given Wednesday and Friday.
come visit the
BUNKHOUSE
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823-5782
OIL RECOVERY RESEARCH
Walter L. Penberthy, studying- for a petroleum engineer
ing- doctoral degree, prepares a combustion tube for a run.
The apparatus is used in developing techniques of moving
a “burning front” through an oil sand by compressed air,
driving fluids ahead of the front into the vicinity of pro
ducing wells. Penberthy, graduate of Bryan’s Austin High,
put in three years with Mobil at Midland. Penberthy com
pletely built the $8,000 tube, through which 14 runs have
been made.
Job Calls
TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY
Firestone Tire and Rubber
Company — accounting, business
administration, finance, manage
ment, marketing, agricultural
economics, economics.
General Motors Corporation —
mechanical engineering, account
ing, finance.
McDonnell Aircraft Corpora
tion — aerospace engineering,
electrical engineering, mechani
cal engineering, mathematics,
physics.
J. Ray McDermott and Com
pany — civil engineering.
Otis Elevator Company — elec
trical engineering, industrial edu
cation, industrial engineering,
mechanical engineering.
Central Intelligence Agency —
chemistry, physics, aerospace en
gineering, electrical engineering,
mechanical engineering, mathe- !
matics, civil engineering, geolo
gy, economics, accounting, busi
ness administration, English, his- !
tory and government, journalism, 1
psychology.
WEDNESDAY
Haskins and Sells — account
ing.
Hess Oil and Chemical Compa
ny — chemical engineering, in
dustrial engineering, mechanical
engineering.
Howard, Needles, Tammen and
Bergendoff — civil engineering.
Lochheed-Georgia Company —
aerospace engineering, physics, !
civil eng-ineering, mechanical en- i
gineering.
General Motors Desert Proving
Ground — mechanical engineer
ing.
THE BATTALION
Tuesday, March 8, 1966 College Station, Texas Page 5
39 Police Officers Complete
County Civil Defense Course
Thirty - nine auxiliary police
men received certificates Friday
for completing a 20-hour Brazos
County Civil Defense sponsored
course.
Certificates were awarded by
Wallace Beasley, chief of the
Police Training Division of the
Texas A&M Engineering Exten
sion Service, in ceremonies at
Stephen F. Austin High School
in Bryan.
Beasley, Ira Scott, Bill Caffee
and Ed Powell, Campus Security
chief at Texas A&M, taught the
course.
Bryan City Manager Fred
Sandlin, and College Station-
A&M Civil. Defense Director John
Hill spoke briefly, praising the
men for their community interest.
Participants included auxiliary
police who operate under the
Sheriff J. W. Hamilton, Bryan
Police Chief Joe Ellisor, College
Station Police Chief Lee Nor
wood, and Powell.
Curriculum included basic con
cepts of criminal law and arz’est,
techniques of traffic and crowd
control, shelter duties, protection
of property and prevention of
looting and the role of auxiliary
police in local emergencies.
“Eating Out Is Fun”
Featuring
• Old Fashioned Ice Cream Parlor
• Char Broiler Burgers
• Short Orders - Extraordinary
—Open Until 2 a. m.—
DUTCH TREAT
East Gate — Across Highway From Coif Course
Fly-in
for half the price.
Braniff International’s new
fare, for anyone twelve through
twenty-one, virtually cuts the cost of
flying in half.
At these prices, the fly-in may
soon become as popular as all
the other in things that are going on
today. (We will permit guitar-
strumming and folk-singing
on route, but no noisy political
debates, please.)
Eligibility requirements are simple.
Just send us a $3.00 registration fee,
and we’ll issue an identification card
which, when validated, will entitle
you to buy tickets at approximately
half fare on our flights in the
United States.
Of course, this will be subject
to availability of space at departure
time, and does not apply during
certain holiday periods.
Soon, the same card will qualify
you for discounts on hotels and
other services.
Make your application in person
at any Braniff office.
Or mail the coupon below.
Braniff International
Youth Fare Manager
P.O. Box 35001, Dallas,Texas 75235
Mr.
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Miss Age
Address
City State Zip Code
Date of Birth
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Be sure to enclose $3.00 check or money order payable to
Braniff International.