MINERAL INDUSTRY OF NEW MEXICO 561 
 
 The number of producing oil wells increased slightly. At yearend, the Oil
Conservation Commission reported 16,745 oil wells producing from 645 reservoirs.
Of the producing wells, 15,210 (91 percent) were in the Permian basin, as
were 594 of the oil pools; the remainder were in the San Juan basin. Ninety-one
percent of the oil production was from the four counties in the Permian basin.

 Estimates by the API and AGA listed crude-oil reserves of 925.8 million
barrels in the State, down 98.8 million barrels from those of 1966. Additions
due to revisions and extensions totaled 14.9 million barrels; those resulting
from new fields and new pools were 5.5 million barrels. 
 Drilling activity decreased sharply from that of the previous year. Overall
drilling was down 11 percent from the 1,236 wells drilled in 1966; footage
drilled also declined. Sixteen percent of the drilling activity was for exploratory
wells; there were 28 oil and 11 gas discoveries for an unusually high success
ratio of 22 percent. Lea County led in number of wildcat and development
wells drilled. 
 Development drilling in the Cato field, Chaves County, added 141 new producers
to the field. Thirty-four producing wells were added to the Chaveroo field
in Roosevelt County and 19 in Chaves County. 
 Among the 28 oil discoveries, the Texas Pacific Oil Co. Ella Drinkard No.
2, sec 25, T 22 5, R 37 E, Lea County, was significant. The well was dually
completed from two zones in the Ellenburger formation (Ordovician); from
the upper zone, 7,783 to 7,801 feet, initial daily production was 370 barrels
of oil; from the lower zone, 7,843 to 7,862 feet, 408 barrels of oil. 
 Also in Lea County, the Southwest Production Co. Montieth-State No. 1, sec
19, T 16 5, R 37 E, was deepened from its old total depth of 6,650 feet to
11,303 feet. It was completed in the Strawn formation (Pennsylvanian) at
11,210 to 11,244 feet; initial daily potential was 626 barrels of oil. 
 At yearend Kerr-McGee Corp. was completing an oil discovery in San Juan
County about 20 miles southeast of its significant Dineh bi Keyah oilfield
in Arizona. The San Juan discovery was theNavajo-JNo. 1,sec23,T23NR20 
W completed for a daily gage of 160 barrels of 47.6° API oil from the
McCracken formation (Devonian) at 3,982 to 4,008 feet. The new field was
named Akah Nez, Navajo for "tall oil." 
 Early in the year and again in September, posted prices of New Mexico intermediate
crude oils were raised 5 cents per barrel to bring the price for that oil
to $3.11 per barrel (for 40° to 44.9° API gravity). 
 Crude-oil runs to stills in the six refineries in the State were 12.4 million
barrels. Of the 112.9 million barrels shipped out of State, 40.2 million
barrels went to Texas, 30.9 million to Illinois, and 11.6 million to Indiana.

 Plateau, Inc., completed a modernization and expansion program at its Bloomfield
refinery on March 24. Costing $1 million, the program included a catalytic
reformer for upgrading the products, an increase in daily plant crude-input
capacity from 1,850 to 2,400 barrels and an increase in storage capacity
from 120,000 to 160,000 barrels. The Famariss Oil & Refining Co. also
planned to expand daily crude-oil capacity at its Monument refinery from
2,500 to 4,500 barrels. 
 Early in the year plans were announced for construction of a $20 million
petrochemical complex; sites were being considered at Los Lunas and Artesia.
Scheduled for completion in 1969, the plant, to be owned by Mercury Chemicals
& Petroleum, Inc., was designed to produce annually 280,000 tons of methanol
and 100 million pounds of formaldehyde; construction contractor was Chemical
Construction Corp. (Chemico). 
 
METALS 
 
 The value of metals produced in the State was $172 million, a 3-percent
decrease from the 1966 figure of $177.2 million. Substantial increases in
output values of uranium, and molybdenum plus smaller increases in the values
of lead, manganese concentrate, manganiferous ore, and vanadium were not
great enough to offset the $21.2 million decline in the value of copper production,
and lesser decreases in gold, silver, tin, and zinc. The principal cause
of the decreases in copper, gold, and silver was the labor strike in the
copper industry which began on July 15 and continued through the