Petroleum in the Philippines

It has been 5 years since the writer left the Philippine Islands and whilein that country his chief work did not lie in this field, though he has visitedall but one of the localities mentioned in this article. The principal fieldstudies relating to oil were made by his colleague, Mr. Wallace E. Pratt. Thewriter's investigations dealt with the general stratigraphy and paleontology ofthe Philippines. With the exception of the investigations made by Mr. Pratt andthe writer very little information on this subject is available. A number of geologists in the employ of large oil companies have visited theIslands from time to time but, following the general rule, the public hasscarcely ever been permitted to learn anything of the results. The writer isindebted to the Bureau of Insular Affairs, Washington, for late informationregarding recent legislation in the Islands relating to petroleum. All the known oil seeps, petroleum residues, such as ozocerite, and natural-gasemanations are associated with Tertiary sediments. The chief seeps and mostpromising prospects are located as follows:Bondoc Peninsula (lower end), Tayabas Province, Southeast Luzon.The west coast of the island of Cebu from Alegria north to, and perhapsbeyond, Toledo.Central Mindanao not far from Lake Lanao.The ozocerite veins on the Island of Leyte in the northwestern part in thevicinity of the town of Villaba.Natural gas from some deep wells in Tertiary shale formations on the easternflank of the Cordillera and extending out under the plain on the island ofPanay. The first mention in geological literature, to the writer's knowledge, of gasor petroleum in the Philippines is found in the description of the Island ofPanay by the Spanish geologist, Abella, in the year 1890. AIME 065–09