page_title: History of the oil shale industry in the United States
section_title: World War I and the thirst for gasoline
hierarchical_section_title: History of the oil shale industry in the United States / World War I and the thirst for gasoline
caption_attribution_description: English: Net oil imports (imports minus exports) rose steeply in 1919 and 1920, but fell back in 1922
context_page_description: The history of the oil shale industry in the United States goes back to the 1850s; it dates back farther as a major enterprise than the petroleum industry. But although the United States contains the world's largest known resource of oil shale, the US has not been a significant producer of shale oil since 1861. There were three major past attempts to establish an American oil shale industry: the 1850s; in the years during and after World War I; and in the 1970s and early 1980s. Each time, the oil shale industry failed because of competition from cheaper petroleum.
  As of 2014, there are a number of companies doing research and development on oil shale deposits in Colorado and Utah, but there is no commercial production of oil from shale in the United States.
context_section_description: World War I put a strain on US and world oil supplies, but even after the war, petroleum consumption kept its rapid rise, as Americans bought record numbers of automobiles. Despite steadily growing domestic petroleum production, the American oil industry could not supply the rapidly growing demand, especially for gasoline, and the country had to import increasing amounts of oil, raising prices, and causing widespread speculation that petroleum would be soon exhausted.
  America was quickly running out of petroleum and into a permanent state of energy scarcity – or at least many experts said so.
  "... the peak of production will soon be passed, possibly within 3 years. ... There are many well-informed geologists and engineers who believe that the peak in the production of natural petroleum in this country will be reached by 1921 and who present impressive evidence that it may come even before 1920."
  - David White, chief geologist, United States Geological Survey (1919)
  “The average middle-aged man of today will live to see the virtual exhaustion of the world’s supply of oil from wells,”
  - Victor C. Anderson, president of the Colorado School of Mines (1921)
  The average price of crude oil in the United States more than tripled, going from $0.64 per barrel in 1915 to US$2.01 in 1920. Domestic oil production grew, but lagged farther behind consumption, and net imports of crude oil to the US rose sharply, from 18 million barrels in 1915 to 106 million barrels in 1920.
  The nation's largest oil shale resource, Green River Formation, was accidentally discovered in 1874. That beds of the Green River Formation could yield oil upon heating had been known for years, but the publication in 1914 of US Geological Survey Bulletin 581, "Oil-Shale in Northwestern Colorado and Northeastern Utah" brought the enormous size of the resource to public attention.
  Concerned that a coming oil famine could strand the American fleet, in 1912 President Taft created the first three Naval Oil Reserves, large federal tracts thought to have oil deposits (two in California and one in Wyoming), which would not be tapped unless the Navy could no longer buy oil from other sources. In view of the expected importance of oil shale in the near future, President Woodrow Wilson in 1916 established two Naval Oil Shale Reserves, large tracts of prime oil shale that were kept from passing into private ownership. Oil Shale Reserve 1 (26,406 acres) was in Garfield County, Colorado, eight miles west of the town of Rifle. Oil Shale Reserve 2 (88,890 acres) was in Carbon and Uintah counties, Utah. Oil Shale Reserve 3 (20,171 acres), in Colorado, was added later.
caption: Net oil imports (imports minus exports) to the US rose steeply in 1919 and 1920, but fell back in 1922
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