The Dominion TUESDAY, APRIL 10, 1923. OIL AND ANGLO-AMERICAN RELATIONS

Dominion, Volume 16, Issue 173, 10 April 1923, Page 6

The Dominion TUESDAY, APRIL 10, 1923. OIL AND ANGLO-AMERICAN RELATIONS

SUPP lt e mu S t be added fhat anxiety over oTcltXe anoarent in the United .States than it is in Gieat Britain oi clscw in tho Empire. Inspired perhaps by motives that are not at all events freely, disclosed, the representatives of oil interests America assisted by* some sections of the general newspaper Press, .eXins Great Britain of aiming at a mnnnpnl.etto control of‘the worlds oil supplies. . in Although they have been widely taken up and repeated in America these accusations obviously rest on no assured foundation. During the progress of the negotiations with Turkey at the La " Conference, for instance, many American newspapers asserted that British policy was dominated by a determination to retain control of the'rich oilfields supposed to exist in the Mosul vilayet These assertions were explicitly rebutted by both Lord Cuiizon and Mr Bonaß Law. Addressing the House of Commons, Mr. Bonar Law not only tendered an assurance that "no question of oil was keeping us in Mesopotamia," but added that to the best of his recollection the mandate over Mesopotamia was offered to America. It may partly account for the anti-British agitation oi the representatives of oil interests in America that in their own country the big American oil combines are accused of monopolistic exploitation. Last month a Senate Committee, presided over by Senator La Follette, reported to the effect that there was such a monopolistic control oi oil in the United States that if conditions were not remedied consumers in the next few years would pay a dollar a gallon for motor spirit. Bogus accusations against Great Britain of attempting to corner the world’s supplies possibly suggest themselves to the American oil kings as one means of diverting attention from their own proceedings. In any case there does not seem to bo any reason why the question of future oil supplies should create such a stir as has been raised during the last few years, or should be allowed to disturb even in a minor degree the friendly relations of the two great English-speaking nations. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ It is, of course, a familiar fact that the consumption of both light and heavy oils is increasing by leaps and bounds, lhe tonnage of oil-burning ships entered in Lloyd’s Register was nearly ten times as great in 1921 as in 1914. In the United States the number ot motor-cars and vehicles increased from 1,260.000 in 1913 to 10,448,000 at the beginning of 1922. Imports of fuel oil into Great Britain increased from 31,169.000 gallons in 1913 to 533,131,000 gallons in 1921. These and other facts relating to the phenomenally increasing consumption of light and heavy oils for purposes of power production and motive propulsion on land, sea, and in the air, admittedly emphasise the necessity of rapidly opening up new sources of supply, lhere is every indication, however, that the sources as yet untapped are of vast extent and very widely distributed. Authorities are generally agreed that its native resources will not much longer enable the United States to maintain its present dominant position among the oil-producing countries of the world. The output from wells in the United States still represents approximately 62 per cent, of the world’s supplies, but the limit of productivity from these fields is placed by experts at from twenty to thirty years. American capital, however, has been invested heavily m the oil industry in Mexico, which meantime stands second only to the United States in oil production, and has over 100,000 square miles of oil land as yet uncxploited. Presumably, also, there are favourable openings for American enterprise in Central and South America. It is estimated by the chief of the 'United States Geological Survey (Dr. White) that in South America “the aggregate of the oil remaining in the ground to be recovered by present methods .... is likely to exceed 13.000 million barrels, which is rather more than the estimated original oil content of the United States.’’

At an immediate view, the dominant position of the United States as an oil-producing country is threatened chiefly by the fact that its supplies of petroleum capable of yielding a high percentage of motor spirit, as distinct from crude fuel oil. are diminishing rather rapidly. A similar disability applies to the existing Mexican fields. For this reason and others, it is possible, according to Mr. Sydney H. North, who writes on the subject to the Fortnightly Review, "that the centre of gravity of the world’s oil supply may in the course of some years be shifted from the West to the East.’’ The Eastern deposits, however, are of very wide range, and extend from the Dutch East Indies to Burma, through India, Baluchistan, Persia, Mesopotamia, /nd regions further west. llapidljr as the demand for oil is expanding there is no immediate danger of a shortage of supplies. Apart from the vast and widely-distributed fields as yet uncxploited, there arc important possibilities in connection with the working of the shale deposits which exist in most countries, and the distillation of motor spirit from coal.

There is an obvious likelihood, however, that the x United States may be displaced from the commanding position it now occupies in the enterprise of oil production. A reluctant and somewhat resentful perception of that fact probably accounts for the standpoint from which the oil question is<at present approached and regarded in America.