GAS AND OIL 



five years ago we got a quarter of a barrel of gasoline 

 from a barrel of crude. Now we get a half or better. We 

 know several processes, today uneconomic, which could 

 increase the fuel yield, if their operation was a little 

 more efficient or the price of gas a few cents higher. 



"Gasoline from natural gas by the Synthol process 

 already appears to be practical and economic. It might 

 well increase our fuel output by a fifth. Natural gas 

 reserves are calculated at 110 trillion cubic feet and we 

 are using approximately 4 trillion feet a year. On the 

 basis of equivalent fuel-value, gas reserves at least equal 

 our oil reserves. 



"When we exhaust both oil and gas, Western shale 

 deposits are sufficient for our normal gasoline consump- 

 tion for sixty-five years. Domestic 'tar sands* contain 

 enough oil for gasoline for a century. In the last ex- 

 tremity, half of the coal in the world lies beneath the 

 North American continent, sufficient to give us all the 

 solid and liquid fuels that we need for one thousand 

 years. Processes are known to convert these three raw 

 materials into liquid fuels." 



The chemists assure us that the manufacture of chem- 

 icals from the hydrocarbons in petroleum will not jeop- 

 ardize our gasoline or lubricants. "All the organic chem- 

 icals made during 1944 in the United States and that 

 includes plastics, fibers, dyes, medicines, solvents, acids, 

 chemicals, everything made from all raw materials 



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