The Geological Basis of the Present Search for Oil in Great Britain by the D'Arcy Exploration Company, Ltd.

Seepages of oil at the surface or in coal mines have been known in Great Britain for several centuries. Records of the use of oil from the Coalport seepages date from 1684. James Young in 1847 extracted wax, burning oil, and lubricating oil from a crude oil obtained in the Biddings colliery, near Alfreton in Derbyshire. In 1902, some boring was carried out in the Sussex Weald, stimulated by the accidental discovery of natural gas at Heathfield, but this enterprise was soon abandoned. In 1918, a serious search for oil was made under the pressure of war-time conditions, and Messrs. S. Pearson & Son, Limited, between 1918 and 1921, under contract for H.M. Government, drilled 11 test-wells: seven in Derbyshire, two in Staffordshire, and two in Scotland. In every case the objective was an oil accumulation in Carboniferous beds. A small production was obtained from their first well, Hardstoft No. 1 in Derbyshire, and showings of oil were struck elsewhere, notably in the D'Arcy well in Scotland. Although the results up to that time may not have been conclusive, they were not considered sufficiently encouraging to justify further Government expenditure, and operations were suspended. Two wells were drilled later (1924–26) on the Hardstoft structure on the initiative of the Duke of Devonshire, owner of the property, but neither obtained any oil-production. Other attempts during the last 20 years to find oil by drilling have been those at Kelham, near the site of a coal exploration borehole, which found a show