The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1917-03-29
But Only Through Development of
Processes to Minimize
Waste.
OIL scARcER; DEMAND GROWS:
Bureau Of Mines Working on Sub.
stitute for Gasoline When Petro-
hum Supply Of the World
Is Exhausted.

resources of the United States will last
for at least another Is years through
the further development Of processes
for the commercial utilization of much
of the present crude product now mar
keted at a loss was the prediction
made to the New York World by w.
A. Williams, chief petroleum technolo-
gfst of the bureau Of mines.
In discussing the work Of the bu-
reau of mines in the last two years in,
conserving the oil resources Of the
country, MIR. Williams said that he
had every reason to believe that gaso-
line would be produced in sufficient
quantities for many years to com to
permit it to be sold at a price not high
er than 25 cents q gallon, and that the.
automobile industry need have no fear
Of going out of business in the near fu-,
ture through the high cost of gas
line. +,
A Serious Problem.
"The United States geological sur
vey," said Mr.. Williams, "has recently,
estimated that, with the annual con-
sumption of oil remaining stationary,
and present methods Of production,
there is only enough oil to last the
country for another % years. AL.
though it cannot be definitely said that.
no more oil fields will be discovered in
the future, it is safe to say that the
greater number of them are already;
being worked. The problem, there
fore, which seems to face the country
is a very serious one, owing to the al
most universal S to which gasoline
is put in developing the industrial re-
sources of the nation. And notwith-
standing the fact that the production
of gasoline is getting relatively
scarcer, the demand has steadily in
creased. On January 1, 1916, there
were two and a quarter million auto
mobiles in the United States, and it is
estimated that there are now over
8,25O,00 in use.
"Realizing the serious nature of the
problem, the bureau of mines has been
considering the conservation of the
nations petroleum resources for q
year and a half. The work of our
department has been along two lines
first, the reduction of the waste every
where prevalent in drilling the oil
wells, and second, the development of
methods of better utilization of the
petroleum products by converting the
less valuable products into the more
valuable.
1.-THE best example of the first d.
vision of u work has been the intro
duction of the mud-t1uid process of
drilling. At the present time, how
ever, 80 per cent Of the operators in
Oklahoma and Kansas are using the
mud-fiuid process of drilling developed
by the bureau of mines, at an n
nous annual saving.
"The work Of the bureau along the
line of better utilization of the prod
ucts Of petroleum has succeeded in
developing the Rittman process as a
commercial success for the manufac-
ture of gasoline, tOluene and benzine
from kerosene or any other available
fraction Of petroleum. The bureau
OF mines is now able to give to the
public a commercial cracking process,
free from royalty, which will make
available for internal combustion en-
gines large quantities of petroleum
otherwise unavailable.
Much Sold at Less Than Cost.
up to the present time seventy per
cent of the crude petroleum product has
been sold at less than cost, the profits
of the operators being made entirely
on selling the remainder as gasoline
Md .%lubricating oils. The Rittman
process, though commercially a sue
cess, should be developed further. The
bureau of mines wants to have avail
able a large centrally located plant, so
that experiments on a commercial
scale a be carried on in further de-
veloping our cracking processes. The
problem which faces the oil operators
is to use and develop the Rittman
process, which the bureau of mines has
invented so that they can convert into
gasoline or lubricating oils fifty per