Roxana Petroleum Company, May 24, 1928Page 1This letter from the Roxana Petroleum Company (later Shell) shows that the relationship between the oil producers and the Railroad Commission was not always adversarial. In this letter, Roxana asks for increased regulation in the Hendrick pool in Winkler County. First discovered in 1926, Hendrick exemplified the problems of overproduction: falling prices, transportation problems, water contamination, and field depletion. Hendrick operators voluntarily accepted a prorationing plan from the Railroad Commission. Although partially successful, the plan did little to correct the underlying problems, and by 1931, Hendrick was in steep decline. |
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