On Barrow Island, a cyclone-swept wasteland off Western Australia that until now has supported only kangaroos, lizards and one lonely tree, an international team of roustabouts is drilling with intensity and anticipation. The Western Australian government last month declared Barrow to be an economically viable oilfield, expects that by 1968 it will be producing 20,000 bbl. daily for a group made up of Shell, Texaco, Standard Oil of California and Ampol, an Australian firm.
The bonanza at Barrow will treble Australia's production of crude, reduce the amount of foreign exchange that it uses to import oil (now $280 million annually),...
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