Petroleum Resources and Industries 

 Harford, and an asphalt refinery at Bakersfield. 

 The General Petroleum Company has a very com- 



glete topping plant near Los Angeles, and the Royal 

 utch-Shell interests are now building a large refin- 

 ery near Martinez, on San Francisco Bay. There 

 are about twenty-five small independent refineries 

 throughout the State, most of them being located 

 either near Los Angeles or San Francisco. 



Utilization of the Oil. — About 70 per cent of 

 the oil produced in California is either refined or 

 topped, the balance being used in the crude state as 

 fuel or road dressing. The great bulk of the heavy 

 oil is burned as fuel, the railroads using a very con- 

 siderable part. Large quantities of heavy oil are 

 also used for road surfacing, producing resistant 

 dustless surfaces ideal for motor and other traflBc. 

 Crude oil is also used for sprays to combat insect 

 pests, and in minor quantities for various other 

 purposes. 



The products of the refineries consist of gaso- 

 line, engine distillates, kerosene, lubricating oils, 

 fuel and road oil, and a residuum of asphalt or coke. 

 Gasoline is also condensed from casing-head gas in 

 large quantities in those fields in the State furnish- 

 ing "wet" gas. The gasoline is used largely in motor 

 vehicles and for stationary gas engines; the engine 

 distillate in gas engines for generating power for 

 pumping water, and other purposes; the kerosene 

 is largely exported to Asia and South America; the 

 lubricating oils are used locally and exported. 

 Asphaltum from the refineries has entirely replaced 

 that formerly obtained by mining natural deposits, 

 none of the latter at present being operated on the 

 Pacific Coast. Asphaltum is used in paving and for 

 roofing. 



Most of the oil is utilized in the Pacific and adja- 

 cent States and western Canada, but some is ex- 

 ported to Hawaii, Japan, Alaska, Panama, and South 

 America. Practically none reaches the Atlantic 

 Ocean, nor is it likely that much will in the future, 

 owing to the adequate supply of Mexico and Trini- 

 dad for the Atlantic seaboard markets. 



Geologic Formations of the Oil Districts. — 

 Oil is found in commercial quantities at one place 

 or another in California in every important geologic 

 horizon from the Chico or upper Cretaceous to the 

 Fernando or Pliocene. These formations are all 

 much younger than those from which the oil of the 

 eastern United States comes, and there is little con- 

 nection between the two provinces either in origin, 

 character of oil, or mode of occurrence. 



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