4 io PETROLEUM 



age can be obtained from the crude oil. Probably the owner of the private motor car 

 will always prefer to have the product which he has been accustomed to use, even if he 

 has to pay a high price for it, but for use in public-service and commercial motor vehicles 

 an increasing substitution of the less volatile product may be looked for, and it is desira- 

 ble that this should be so, for the supply of motor-spirit may otherwise become inade- 

 quate to meet the increasing demands, though at present the United States and the 

 Dutch East Indies, which are the chief sources, show no signs of failure in this respect. 



In regard to the industrial use of oil for power purposes it is instructive to consider 

 the remarkable changes which have been effected in the United States within very recent 

 years by the provision of liquid fuel. As was pointed out by Dr. David T. Day, in an 

 instructive article published in The Times (London) for June 28, 1912, the supply of oil 

 fuel has been a potent factor in State development. It has made Oklahoma a state 

 abundant in prosperous cities, and has developed the railroads and manufacturing 

 industries of Texas. In Louisiana it has made the sugar industry ready for the free 

 list, and corresponding changes are in progress in Illinois and further west in Wyoming. 

 Oil fuel has completely revolutionised California, so that the state is in the midst of a 

 startlingly rapid transformation from a mining and agricultural community to a manu- 

 facturing centre, and the keynote of the Panama-Pacihc Exposition of 1915 in San 

 Francisco, originally intended to be a tribute to the extension of commerce through the 

 opening of the Panama Canal, will be the change of San Francisco from a future Liver- 

 pool to a future Birmingham. 



For marine purposes, as well as in industrial establishments, the most potent factor 

 in the replacement of coal by oil is, however, unquestionably the Diesel engine, which 

 possesses great economic advantages over other types of internal-combustion engines. 

 Not only can a much greater amount of power be obtained with this engine from a given 

 quantity of oil, but in addition the less volatile hydrocarbons of which petroleum is 

 chiefly composed, and even the crude oil itself, can be used with it. 



For use on railroads the Diesel engine has not, as yet, been substituted for the steam 

 locomotive, but the employment of oil fuel, which for many years has been common in 

 Southern Russia, has been extended to other countries, especially the United States. 



According to the figures compiled by Redwood and Eastlake, the world's production 

 of crude petroleum amounted in 1909 to 40,070,832 metric tons, and in 1910 to 43,986,- 

 531 metric tons, while in 1911 (from Day's figures) it was 46,526,334 metric tons. De- 

 tails of the production in different areas for 1909 and 1910 (Redwood and Eastlake), and 

 1911 (Day), are shown in Table A. 



It will be observed that the United States continues to occupy a predominant posi- 

 tion in the industry, having contributed in 1911 no less than 63.8 per cent of the world's 

 output, the next in order being Russia, with 19.16 per cent of the total. During 1911 

 the production of Mexico increased so largely as to bring that country into the third 

 place, and as soon as there are adequate transport facilities the increase will probably 

 be far greater. Other countries of very considerable commercial importance in the 

 industry are the Dutch East Indies, Rumania and Galicia. To the aggregate output of 

 the United States, California contributed far more largely than any other state, and 

 may be expected to provide sufficient oil for the industrial needs of the whole Pacific 

 slope for many years to come. The similar requirements of the Atlantic coast will 

 probably be met by the importation of the surplus production of Mexico. 



The older oil-fields of Russia, in the Baku region, which in the past have, produced 

 immense quantities of oil from a comparatively small area, are showing signs of exhaus- 

 tion, but other districts are being actively exploited with highly promising results. In 

 the Ural Caspian region, lying east and west of the Ural river, there are over 30,000 

 square miles of territory, where already some very productive wells have been drilled, 

 and a large proportion of which may prove to be richly petroliferous. The island of 

 Cheleken has also become commercially important as a source of oil. The sanguine 

 anticipations expressed in regard to the Maikop oil-field have not been fulfilled, but 

 its prospects will be better understood when we know the results of the deep-drilling 



