U.S. OIL INDUSTRY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18341, 6 March 1923, Page 7

U.S. OIL INDUSTRY.

| HN ALAKMINU OUTLOOK. i | STATE SUPERVISION URGED. > Australian and N.Z. Cable Association, j i Reed. 8.5 p.m.) WASHINGTON, March 4. • A Senate Committee headed by Mr. La | Follette has just submitted a report ; on the production and sale of crude oil and petrol in the United States. It asserts that there is such a monopolistic control of the commodity that if conditions are not remedied consumers in the next few years will have to pay a dollar a gallon for motor spirit. The report states that larger companies, notably the Standard Oil Group, control the production and. price. Consumption is proceeding at such a rapid rate that oil experts declare that within 10 years j or les« it will be necessary for refiners j in the United States to secure at least 50 per cent, of their supplies abroad, since American fields have already reached the peak of production of crude oil. The Government is urged to supervise the industry in the interests of consumers, from whose pockets the oil companies have drawn 1,000,000,000 dollars or more within the last 10 years.