Elderly wells are bubbling again

[JayS]

May 31, 2004, 9:57PM
Elderly wells are bubbling again
As crude climbs, more old pumpjacks and new rigs are operating in Texas
By NELSON ANTOSH
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/business/2602026

WITHIN sight of rusting pumpjacks that haven't rocked up and down for decades, T. Kelley Erwin cracks open a spigot and out comes thick, black crude.

Just below this valve, he can feel the vibrations of oil surging through a pipe heading in the direction of six big tanks.

Using pumps that look like museum pieces, within an oil field just south of Houston that dates to the early 1920s, Erwin's little company is chasing $40-a-barrel oil.

With prices this high, business is better for people like Erwin, who is typical of a large number of oil operators in Texas. They're putting more money into the pockets of the state of Texas and others collecting royalty checks, and they're kicking up a boom in drilling.

*SNIP*