Word: ragusa
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...people live in clannish poverty in stone houses little better than caves, scratching the barest kind of living from their rocky wheatfields. But last week Ragusa stood as a symbol of new economic hope for Sicily, and for all Italy...
...hill outside the town stood a modern, 168-ft. oil rig; below it was Sicily's first proven well, Gulf Oil Corp.'s Ragusa No. 1, with an initial capacity of more than 500 bbls...
...country uses nearly 20 times that much, which must be imported at a cost of about $200 million a year. Now Italy has solid hopes of cutting its expensive imports by at least 25%. Geologists report that there is a good-size oilfield under the hills near Ragusa, and estimate an eventual yield of 10,000 bbls...
...development except by the government. First, the Reds scoffed at the idea of the Americans' finding oil, then cried that Gulf would keep it in the ground so that it would not compete with other U.S. fields. To make them eat their words, Gulf plans to put its Ragusa No. 1 into production by March, even though the company would like to go slower, drill deeper in hopes of finding a bigger pool...
...Sicily, half a dozen other companies are also active. Britain's Anglo-Iranian Oil Co. has already spent $500,000 on a test hole near Ragusa. Mediterranean Oil (Gulf and MacMillan Petroleum Corp.), Pacific Western Oil Corp., Montecatini and others have all bought extensive leases (now upped to a 16% royalty) from the government and are searching for oil. So far, 2,400,000 acres have been leased, almost 40% of Sicily's land, and Sicilians are waiting for the first gushers...