650 
MINERALS YEARBOOK, 1967 
 
2,415 field development wells drilled in 
1967 totaled 11 million feet, averaging 
4,564 feet per well, compared with an average of 4,562 feet per well in 1966.

 Mid-Continent Pipe Line Co. completed a 40-mile, 8-inch crude oil pipeline
between Enid and Orlando, connecting existing gathering systems serving Grant,
Garfield, Alfalfa, Logan, Noble, and Payne Counties. 
 Skelly Pipe Line Co. completed its Osage Pipe Line System, a 135-mile, 8-in
crude oil line which connects Cushing Okla. tank-farm facilities to the Skelly
Oil Co. refinery complex at El Dorado, Kans., to meet the increased demand
for crude at the refinery. 
 Mobil Oil Corp.'s Chitwood and SholemAlchem gas phants in Grady and Stephens
Counties, Okla., respectively, were connected to the Mobil Pipe Line Co.
Lone Grove, Tex., pumping station by a 54-mile, 6-inch gas liquids pipeline.
The line is part of a system connecting existing facilities in southern Oklahoma
fields with 134 miles of new pipe to refineries and chemical plants in the
Beaumont, Tex., area. 
 In November, Northern Natural Gas Co. began using its new 369-mile, 30-inch
natural gas pipeline from Kermit, Tex., to the company's main line at Beaver,
Okla. Natural gas from Texas' Permian Basin will move through the line. 
 In May 1966, the Oklahoma Corporation Commissioui issued an order banning
all unlined oilfield pits, effective June 1, 1967, in an effort to curb otilfield
pollution. Oil and gas operators are required to install linings in earthen
saltwater pits in connection with oil and gas drilling operations to prevent
seepage into the ground. Failure of an operator to comply will result in
the Commission's shutdown of production from all leases on which unlined
pits are located. 
 
 Carbon Black.—Production of carbon black from petroleum distillate
at Continental Oil Co.'s Ponca City refinery was nearly 12 percent lower
in quantity and over 16 percent less in value in 1967 than in 1966. 
 
 Coal.—L'ow-ash bituminous coal was produced by 10 operators at 11
mines (nine strip, one auger, and one underground) in six counties of which
Rogers, Haskell, and Craig Counties led in quantity and value of output.
Five other pro- 
ducers, who mined less than 1,000 tons each, were active in Haskell, Latimer,
Le Flore, and McIntosh Counties. Three companies supplied 89 percent of the
total coal output. 
 Over 99 percent of the coal produced in the State was derived from strip
mines and one auger mine. Strip mine production decreased nearly 2 percent
and underground output dropped more than 73 percent. Ninety-eight percent
of the coal was shipped to consumers by rail and the remainder was hauled
by truck. 
 
 
Table 5.—Coal (bituminous) production 
(Thousand short tons and thousand dollars) 
 
Year 
Quantity 
Value 
1963           
1,008 
$5,667 
1964           
1,028 
5,474 
1965           
1966           
974 
843 
5,520 
4,935 
1967           
823 
4,703 
 Unit train operations, which reduced transportation costs from $2.75 to
$1 per ton, began in January, from the Peabody Coal Co. strip mine near Chelsea
to a Kansas City, Mo., power generating plant. The St. Louis-San Francisco
Railroad agreed to the special rate. 
 As a result of the complaint filed by the Oklahoma Corporation Commission
with the Interstate Commerce Commission, more equitable coal-hauling rates
became effective at the end of March. Railroad freight rates that had been
in effect for 20 years and reported to be 97 cents and $1.05 per ton more
on coal shipped northward from points in Oklahoma were made competitive with
Kansas rates for northern markets. 
 Underground mines being developed at yearend by Howe Coal Co. (subsidiary
of Garland Coal & Mining Co.) near Heavener, Le Flore County, and Kerr-McGee
Corp., near Stigler, Haskell County, should reverse the declining trend of
coal production in Oklahoma. The Howe Coal Co. mine is scheduled for operation
early in 1968. Coal will be loaded into hopper cars at the mine site, carried
by unit train to Port Arthur, Tex., and loaded into oceangoing vessels for
export to steel mills in Japan. 
 Kerr-McGee Corp. began constructing a 20-foot-diameter, concrete-lined shaft
1,380 feet deep near Stigler as part of a