Los Angeles herald., 1909-12-31

IN ACTS and estimates lhuica'o
h banner year in the production and
n marketing of California oil dur
ing 1910. The demand, at an increase
in price, is looked forward to with as
surance and figures obtainable tend to
show the expectations of many are
below what may develop within the
next twelve months. The Standard
Oil is building huge refneries in the
east for the export trade in oil, ana
wells in Indiana and Ohio are being
abandoned faster than new ones can
be developed and the consumption Of
oil at home is growing rapidly through
the introduction of oil into many new
channels of industry.
Oil has been permanently established
as a lighting and fuel material in
China, causing the export trade on
the Pacific coast of the United States
to be an item of vast commercial i'm
portance to California. And the pro-
duction of California oil is now cheap
et than ever before, through the in
stallation of the most modern machln-
cry and the growing efficiency of the
operators and drillers, the latter re-
ceiving better wages and enduring
less hardship than in former days.
The increase in oil exports has in
duced the Standard Oil to erect at
",
refinery ever built. 1t will have sixty
1000 barrel stills and will be known
as the Linden refinery.
Built in Sections
1t is being built in sections and the
first section will be in operation With
in the next few days 1t will require
10000 barrels daily to supply this re-
tinerv with crude petroleum and pipe
Meeting with the trunk line of the Tide
water pipe line at ReXford Pa. With
further competitions of the refinery 1t
will be found necessary to parallel this
line from the Pennsylvania oil fields.
In the building of these pipe lines
and the immense refinery an excel
lent example of the growing need of
oil is shown.
At Baton Rouge, La, eighty miles
northwest of New Orleans, the Stan
dard will have in operation In the New
Year. a monster refinery expressly Tor
the export trade. The Wood River re-
finerv at Alton, further up the Missis-
sippi river, will be used to meet local
demands.
With this remarkable increase In the
oil trade is evidenced a decrease in pro-
duction in at least two eastern states.
q condition most favorable to California
and other ttates where the oil indus
try is in its infancy. Abandoned wells
in the Trenton oil fields of Ohio and
Indiana, for fifty-two months endlngl
with November 1909, make total of
12.729. OF this number 7416 wells were
in Indiana and 5312 in Ohio. These
wells played out and there was nothing
for the operators to do but seek other
territory.
Old Wells Are FiVefold
Facts show that as an average there
are five times as many abandoned
wells in Ohio and Indiana as new wells
now producing oil.
To bring the issue home to Califor-
mia il is found that while fields are OH
The decline in other states the dis
tricts here are forging ahead, with
greater production and higher prices
During the past year the wildcatter
was most active throughout California,
but he has not extended the boundaries
of the producing area. The Standard
would never have invaded California
had ii not discovered a process of retin-
inc the asphaltum oils of California at a
profit, When it began the construction
Of the Point Richmond refinery and
pipe line from the Kern river oil field
10 San Francisco bay il had only the
Price process Of treating these oils. At
this time (about seven years ago) II
could base profits only on inferior oils
of the Kern River field, Coalinga being
then an unknown quantity
Since the Introduction of the Stark
process, which added to the number
OF by products, great changes have
been wrought The most important Of
these was the increase in profits of the
refining of California oils.
Raises Quality of oil
About a year ago DR.. Stark improved
his process to the extent that even an
experr is puzzled to detect the differ
ence between the finished oils obtained
from California oil and the best prod
ucts obtainable from eastern oil. All
these improvements have added to
California as a producer of oils GER
tain reputation not enjoyed before and
which win be an important factor IN
expanding trade i'm the future.
Gasoline, distillates and lubricants
useG i'm the internal combustion engine
are adding more and more to the con
sumption of oil as the months go by.
The rapid advance Of the automobile
has alone played an important part in
swelling this consumption. At the
close of 1903 there were registered in
California 1915 automobiles, and these
figures will be more than doubled IN
y
the number Of registered automobiles
in excess of 10000. To compare the At
lantic and Pacific coasts and get gen
eral idea of the number in use in the
largest states of the respective coasts
New York might be mentioned as haV-
ing 4500 registered cars at the close
of 1908 and an estimate Of 10000 cars
for the close of 1909 All of these cars
use oil in various forms, and the
gigantic growth of the automobile in
dustry must bring increased profit to
the oil producer.
Railroads Adopt Motor Car
The railroads are also using more oil
and introducing it into new channels
of transportation whenever possible
The Pennsylvania company has dis
carded electric cars in its tunnels and
installed motor cars instead. The city
of Philadelphia is installing motor cars
to displace electric cars not as a gen
eral plan as yet, but whenever new mo-
tive power is added Railroads through
out the country are adopting motor
cars, the large size of which GOO horse
poWeD enables them to consume a
liquid known as engine disullate, re
ducing the cost by about one half
These cars seat 200 passengers and con-
sumo one gallon of liquid fuel for each
four miles travel on average grades
These cars can consequently be oper-
ated at less cost than electrically driven
cars, If driven by water power A
Franklin, Pa, concern is making a gas
olne car capable of accommodating
ten men end all equipment to carry
on section work.
Right at the door of the California oil
9