Petroleum Resources of North America’ 
By A. 1. Levorsen, School of Mineral Sciences, Stanford University 
This evening I would like to talk to 
you about our petroleum resources. 
By “our” I mean North American, and 
by “petroleum” I mean oil and gas 
occurring naturally. Petroleum is 
only one of the mineral substances in 
which the public is vitally concerned 
as to supply, but it is the one which 
probably uses the most geology and 
geologists, and it happens to be the one 
in which my experience lies. 
To begin with, petroleum is im- 
portant. It is necessary in peace and 
essential in war. The often repeated 
statement of Lord Curzon of the Brit- 
ish War Cabinet that in War I “The 
allies were floated to victory on a flood 
oil” applied equally well to World War 
II when over 60 percent of the total 
tonnage—men, munitions, food, and 
supplies—which was shipped overseas 
consisted of petroleum products. It is 
no wonder that a committee of the 
United States Senate, after a thorough 
study and many hearings on the prob- 
lems of the petroleum industry, made 
a report containing the following sig- 
nificant statement: “It is now clear 
that no nation which lacks a sure 
supply of liquid fuel can hope to main- 
tain a position of leadership among the 
peoples of the world.” This same com- 
mittee also stated, in regard to the role 
American oil played in the recent war, 
“In the final analysis, the reserves 
1 Presidential address of retiring president 
of The Geological Society of America, orig- 
inally entitled ““Our Petroleum Resources.” 
Reprinted, with change of title, by permis- 
sion from the Bulletin of The Geological 
Society of America, vol. 59, April 1948. 
within our borders can more likely 
than not constitute the citadel of our 
defense.” 
Our current use of oil is the greatest 
in our history—even greater than at 
any time during the recent war—and 
much greater than that of any other 
people. Americans have an annual 
per capita consumption of 420 gallons 
as compared with 42 gallons for Great 
Britain and 14 for all other nations 
combined. The rate of our use has 
been accelerating, and all information 
indicates that it will continue to do so 
indefinitely. On the other hand, our 
rate of production already is running 
so close to capacity that it gives legiti- 
mate alarm about our ability to con- 
tinue to supply adequate amounts of 
petroleum during the decades ahead. 
Not only is it necessary to produce 
enough for our normal expanding 
peacetime needs, but we must likewise 
be prepared constantly for any emer- 
gency which would again require a 
sudden expansion of our production. 
Our future supplies of petroleum are 
consequently of great national con- 
cern. 
We often hear the statement made 
that the discovery of each new oil field 
means one less in the ultimate finite 
number of fields. This is correct but 
rather meaningless. We do our na- 
tional planning on what we think the 
ultimate quantity is in terms of our 
needs rather than on any fixed and 
finite number. Ideas about the future 
discoveries are constantly changing, 
depending on developments and view- 
points, and varying from extreme pes- 
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