Our Future Oil Resources
Page 40
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rIGURES of the world's potential oil
resources are onlyestimated and may or may not eventually turn out to be correct. They have, however, been worked out by highly -experienced oil men, and are based on reliable data obtained in each area over a period of years after extensive geological and geophysical exploration.
Here -are the figures in millions of barrels: Middle East, 150,000; Russia, 100,000; U.S.A., 50,000; Caribbean area, 65,000; Far East, 58,000; Europe (apart from Russia), 8,000. For the world the figure is given as 490,000 million barrels.
For more positive and, therefore, more satisfactory figures, currently proved reserves are estimated at about 65,800 million barrels, of which no fewer than 27,000 million barrels belong to the Middle East.
I have previously suggested that the Middle East held out great promise of being the world's greatest oil-supply
area, gradually taking the place of the U.S.A. in this respect, and all recent reports tend to confirm thiS view. • The actual world output of oil is now about 7,805,000 barrels per day and promises soon to reach the 8,000,000 mark. When we bear in mind that 35 years ago the world's total yearly output of oil was only 351,000,000 barrels, we realize what enormous progress has been made. •
A recent announcement by the Shell Petroleum Co. gives news of an extensive plant for the production of chemicals from petroleum. Formerly these chemicals were mostly produced from coal and its by-products, and molasses. This new industry really started during the war, prodAng synthetic soaps which were formerly almost entirely supplied by Germany.
The Stanton Refinery of the Shell company was originally designed to produce 12,000 tons a year of synthetic soaps and cleansing agents, but so great is the demand for these products that additional plant is under construction to give an annual production of 50,000 tons of synthetic detergents by the middle of 1948. This will help to relieve the great shortage of fats which enter so largely into soap manufacture.
Other chemical products to be produced in large quantities from new refineries to be set up by the same concern include many which are much used in the motor industry. Among them arepraducts for acid pickling, aqueous cleaning and degreasing, electro-plating, the leather industries, the paint and varnish industries, plastics, the rubber industry, and waterproofing.
It is satisfactory to know that the oil required for all these new chemicals will be imported from sterling areas, and, furthermore, the output from one plant will partly replace imports from the U.S.A. and thus save something approaching 4,000,000 dollars a year.
W.H.G.