The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1922-01-24

of ionizatlon" will be the subject
Of a paper by DR.. Harry q. John
ston. OF Atlanta. Ga. before the
District OF Columbia Dental So
cietv. George Washington Cniver-
sity Medical Building. 1895 II
street, tonight. s o'clock.
Nine billion barrels Of oil recov-
cradle by methods now in use re-
manned in the ground IN this coun-
try on January ], 1922. The esti-
mated reserves are enough to sat
isfy the present requirements OF
the United States for only twenty
years IL the oil could be taken out
Of the ground as fast as IL IL
wanted.
These are the estimates made by
joint committee OF leading oil
biologists of the country, members
OF the United States Geological Sur
vey and the American Association
Of Petroleum Biologists.
Unlike our reserves Of coal
iEon. and copper. which are 50
large that apprehension Of their
early exhaustion is not justified.
y.
as the public has frequently been
warned appear adequate to sup
ply the demand for only a limited
number OF years" says a statement
Of the Geological Survey. The
annual production of the country
is now almost half a bill ion bar
rels. but the annual consumption.
already well beyond the half bill
lion mark is still growing For
some years we have had TO import
oil. and with the growth in de-
mand. our dependence on foreign
oil has become steadily greater. "a
spite Of our own increase in out
put"
The estimated OIL reserves %
I the United States. in millions Of
bargain by States or regions. is as
follows:
New York. 100: Pennsylvania.
I go: West Virginia, 200: Ohio. 100;
Indiana and Michigan. 20: Illinois,
40: Kentuckq, Tennessee, Northern
Alabama and Northeastern Missis-
sippi us: Missouri Iowa. North
Dakota, Wisconsin and Minnesota
3 90: Kansas. 1925: Oklahoma. 1870:
I Northern Louisiana and Arkansas,
/ SOS: Texas. except Gulf coast. 90;
4 Gulf Coast Texas and Louisiana,
2,lOO: Colorado New Mexico, and
Arizona so: Wyoming. SIS: Mon
tana, Nebraska and South Dakota.
100: Utah. Nevada, Oregon. Wash
jngton and Idaho. so: California
1850 and Eastern Gulf Coastal
Plain and Atlantic Coast States, 10.
The calculations Of the oil re-
serves in the proved and discovered
helds are reasonably reliable, and
those for regions regarded by the
biologists as embracing probable
future oil fields are based on all the
available data and arc entitled 10
high respect, but the committee
. considers the estimates OF oil IN
possible" territory absolutely spec
uIatiye and hazardous. although
they represent the best judgment -
the biologists. on the whole the
estimates are undoubtedly the hest
that have ever been made for the
United States and better than have
hitherto been prepared for any oil
country or district OF the world.
The committee says that alth"u-h
IL appears that the reserves will %"
exhausted at the end OF twenty
years. or. al most a few years later.
this assumption is absolutely mis-
leading. for the oil pools viii uUt
all be found within that length OF
time. drilling will be spread over
many years. as the pools are found.
and the wells cannot be pumped
dry so quickly. Ind -idua' walls
will yield oil for more than quar-
tep OF a century. and somr Of IN"
wells will not have been drilled On
1850.
The United States Is already a.
solutely dependent on foreign ooUn-
tries to exc out her own procuc-
tion, and IL the foreign OIL can De
. procured. this dependence is sure
TO grow greater and greater - our
own fields wanc. except as artificial
petroleum may be produced by the
distillation Of oil shalcs and coats.
. or some substitute for petroleum
may be discovered" say the come
mittcc.
. Ia tho light OF these estimates as
TO the extent OF o4- supplies a.:
. natural petroleum. tn. Joint COM
mittcc points out N, stern ohliEa-
tion OF the citizen. tho producer. aud
the government TO =Ive most Scri-
Gus study to tho more complete cN-
traction Of IN" oil from the Ground
as well as to the avoidance of vast.
either through direct losses or
, through misuse Of crud, oil or BE
f.. products.
, David White. chief ErrloEf ~r.
chairman: ". T Thorn. jr.. \. ].
Fath, kirtly =. Mathcr. T. =. Moore.
state EeoloEist Of Kansas. aud u. e..
heatd. composed the committee from
: the survey.
W. n