The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-03-18


 Mines, Department of the Interior, is of more than passing interest. The more pertinent features of the report follow:
 The last ten years have seen an enormous increase in the demand for petroleum products. This increased demand has been felt in all phases of the oil refining industry, especially in the fuel, illuminating and 1ubricat- ing oil branches. The biggest in- crease of all. however. has been in the demand for motor gasoline, which has been caused by the tremendu- ously rapid growth in the use of the automobile. The number of cars and trucks in service increased about 170o per cent, from 1909 to 1918. The production of gasoline to meet this demand increased from 13,0O0,000 barrels in 1909 to 85,0O0,000 in 1918, a gain of 560 per cent During the same period the production of crude oil in the United States increased only 95 per cent.
 It will be noted that the demand for gasoline, represented by the nun Der of automobiles and trucks in use, has increased a great deal more than the production of gasoline, and IT times as much as the increase in the production of crude oil supplies. This increase in demand has been partly offset by the fact that the use of gas oline as a solvent and for cleaning has increased only a little in ten years, so that most of the increase in production has gone to meet the mo- tor car demand.
 It will also be noted that propor- tionately far more gasoline was ob- tained from the domestic crude pro- duced in the year 1918 than in 1909. This increase has been made by a number of methods, among them the production of gasoline from import I ed crude oil and from natural gas l and by cracking fuel oils. But the | principal one has been the taking of | a larger proportion of the crude as gasoline. This gasoline has conse- | quently a lower volatility and this | fact is the cause of the complaints ] heard in recent yes,rs as to the qua1- l faced with the problem of sacrificing | quality or quantity; of using less vo- | latile gasoline or having a shortage | of supply.
 It is claimed that the number of | automobiles in the United States at ! the end of 1919 was 7,500,0O0. an in | crease almost 100000 throughout | the year. It has been predicted that ! the number of automobiles in use at the end of 1920 will be between nine | and ten million. The demand for gasoline therefore is certain to in | crease. On the other hand, it is pos 1 sible that the future increase in the 1 production of crude oil from our | own wells will be relatively small as ] compared with recent years and that, l c-T1 # 1 crude may be considerably increased | the gasoline content of this crude will | continue low as at present, and it be- | comes a matter of some concern as to | whether the production of gasoline can be increased in proportion to the | increase of automobiles expected for this and succeeding years.
 | It seems unlikely that the quantity of gasoline produced can be increas- | ed by using more of the crude and l making the product less volatile as has been done in the past. This is because the next fraction obtained l from crude oil-kerosene-is in great | demand and the price has doubled | since the armistice. The point has l been reached where an economic bal ance is approaching between gasoline and kerosene; thus. if any apprecia-
 
 of kerosene is included with the gaso- line it will cause a shortage of kero- | sene with a consequent increase in the price.
 The other important means of ob- taining more gasoline are to extract ii from natural gas and to "cracB'' fue1 I oils. The extraction of gasoline from natural gas is approaching its maxi 1 mum. It has been a comparativeIy new industry developed during the last ten years, but the gases that car yield gasoline have largely been ex- plotted and it cannot be expected that there will be the same rate ot
 increase in the production of this
 'casinghead'' gasoline as in the past
 The process of cracking fuel oi
 into gasoline is not subject to the same limitation in the supply of base material, for fuel oil constitutes a large part of the crude oil refined 1 However, the changing of fuel oi
 into gasoline by cracking processes involves a considerable expense an6 waste of material. Therefore, unles:
 the margin in price between the two
 is considerable, cracking is not profit. 1 able.
 Moreover, the demand for fuel oi
 has been increasing rapidly durins l Ine past year ana the prlCe mas nor:
 than doubled. Our merchant marine
 navy and many other large users O
 fuel oil have come into the marke
 for large quantities and are plannin:
 to develop demands that will mak'
 the competition more keen. There
 fore, it may prove to be unproftta,b1
 to crack more of our fuel oil int,
 gasoline, unless the price of gasoline 1 is also increased.
 It is probable then that the qualit, - of gasoline will not change much il 4 the near future. If the engine ant
 carburetor of today can use the pres
 ent quality of gasoline in a satisfac r tory manner then they can continu
 to do so for some little time to come Furthermore, it is probable that tn ) idea of providing for the increase il = the number of automobiles by usin
 kerosene, as fuel cannot be realize r to any great extent. Considerab1 amounts of kerosene. the total pro
 duction of. which in this country n only half as much as the productio: of gasoline, can be diverted to tn t automobile industry, only if automo 2 | bile users are prepared to pay a pric | greater than can be afforded in tn