GAS AND OIL 



prospect of oil depletion, let us take a look at the reasons 

 for their confidence. At the outset they face the fact 

 that we will use much more liquid fuel. The airplane 

 and the Diesel engine will take care of that. But aside 

 from the off chance of the discovery of an entirely new 

 engine to use a new type of energy atomic energy, for 

 instance they point out that there are many sources of 

 liquid hydrocarbons suitable for fuels. Here petroleum's 

 partner, natural gas, bobs up serenely. 



For twenty years natural gas has been elbowing its 

 way forward as a supplementary source of petroleum 

 products. Before the war it was supplying almost a 

 tenth of our gasoline in the so-called casinghead gas 

 squeezed out by pressure. This up-and-coming junior 

 member is now ready to take over from twenty to 

 twenty-five per cent of the firm's motor and aviation 

 fuel business and to assume active management of the 

 new chemical department. 



Natural gas started by supplementing gasoline sup- 

 plies. It went on and established its own business in 

 bottled gas, fuels made from its butane and propane of 

 the general type of Pyrofax and Philgas. It branched 

 out into strictly chemical enterprises under the auspices 

 of Union Carbide and Carbon Corporation and built 

 up a brand new, distinctively American industry, pro- 

 ducing such unexpected products as alcohol and anti- 

 freeze; plastics and fibers. 



During World War II natural gas took over other 

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