Journal of the Japanese Association for Petroleum Technology

It is with great pleasure that I contribute this foreword to the special issure of Secondary Recovery of Oil, because I have stressed the great importance of application of Seconday Recovery methods to the Japanese oil fields.
In the following pages are given the useful and helpful advice and guidance to the oil industry.

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The application of secondary recovery methods to the oil-fields in Japan will greatly encourage the petroleum producing industry in this country.

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The policy of General Macarthur's Natural Resources Section, as far as the petroleum and natural gas producing industries are concerned, has always been to help maximize the production of these resources in Japan and thereby aid in restoring the economic balance in Japan by reducing her dependence on imported petroleum products. As a means of achieving this objective the PRDPC was established by the Mining Bureau in Jan. 1917 on the recommendation of NRS.
During the past five years NRS has provided technical advice and guidance for the developmint of an intensive exploration Program for the discovery of new reserves through the medium of the PRDPC. As a result of the earnest cooperation of the industry with the PRDPC, Japan's proved reserves of crude oil are nearly double what they were in 1945 and the production of crude oil has now reached a level higher than anyone expected four years ago.
For the most efficient means of exploiting these new reserves constant attention has been paid to increasing the speed and efficiency of drilling and production methods with the result that wells are now drilled and completed in less than half the time it took four years ago.
During the past year and a half our attention has turned to the possibilities of recovering, by using the specialized methods of secondary recovery developed in the United States, the large percentage of residual oil that still remains in the depleted reservoirs of Japan's old fields.
Already some experimental work in secondary recovery was begun recently, partly as a result of the visit of Japanese petroleum technologists Professor Uwatoko and Mr. Sawatari to the United States, and under the general guidance of petroleum engineers of NRS. However, we decided that, because secondary recovery may be a very important factor in the future, in maintaining and increasing Japan's production of crude oil, the best possible advice should be obtained to start the secondary recovery program on the soundest possible basis.
Accordingly we have acquired the services, for a period of three months, of Professor Somerton of the University of California who is one of the foremost authorities on secondary recovery in the United States and the leading authority on secondary recovery in Californian oilfields, which are more nearly similar to those of Japan than any other of the oilfields of the United States.
I will therefore now introduce toy ou Dr. Somerton, who will outline briefly to you the principles underlying secondary recovery of oil from depleted reservoirs.

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The writer has explained the present practices and activities of secondary recovery of oil in the United States, and has turned his attention to the application and possibilities of the secondary recovery methods to the Japanese depleted oil fields to increase the production of oil in the future.

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