Oil at Home?

Britain owns all the oil, developed and undeveloped, in Southern Iran. She controls one-third of Venezuela's output, two-thirds of Mexico's. She has an oil company in the U. S.

After the U. S., Britain is the world's largest oil consumer. But only recently did she suspect that she might have fairly large quantities in her own island cellars.

Britain has yet to find out how much or how little oil she has downstairs, though the first important strike was made at Hardstoft, Derbyshire, in 1919 when oil was discovered about 3,000 ft. below a field of oat stubble. About 100 tons a year have since been produced. Encouraged by this small but steady uninterrupted gush, the Government in 1934 established State ownership of all domestic oil, hoping to make the Navy independent of foreign supplies. Enthusiastic geologists soon began to talk of the possibility of finding oil along a belt stretching from the west coast of Wales to the east coast of Yorkshire, and in Somerset and Sussex.

Last week at Grove Hill near Hellingly, Sussex, brawny workmen employed by Anglo-American Oil Co. began to drill with up-to-the-minute apparatus capable of boring more than a mile. Present with intense official interest was Lord Apsley, representing the Minister for Coordination of Defense. Some time in August, Britain will get another check on her home oil potential.

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