The Morning Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1919-1927, 1922-09-23
on MntLrt .,nn,nt,nn.-
Rumored Sinclair and Prairie
WIN Maxi Three Prices for
Mid-COnti1enfai Crude

Mid-C Continental Crude
rumor that the Sinclair and
Prairie intore sts shortly would make
three gradgi Tor Mid-Continent
crude with a 25-ccnt difference be-
tween each grade was circulated
persistenuy va storday. Officnls os
both the prairie ana Sinclair COM
panies stated tyint they know moth
ino nf iha poTNling diffcrcntial. IL
is known, however. that these COM
panies have bcVu giving gcriouA
thought to tho problem as the result
OF tho Gulf. Texas and Cosden COM
panes paying 20 cents above the
posted price for IS gravity and
above. The Prairie and Sinclair
companies. rs result OF tho pre-
inium arrangement. have been able
= to obtain n very small amount of
the high-grede crude, hut have been
taking the bulk OF the crude or tho
~ lower grades.
The rumor has II that price e'
IL $3.50 will be put into effect for 3S
and above; si.26 for "a TO 3S (eomc
reports have It 32 20 3S), and 81
fl for all oil below these gravlties. An
other rumor put the top price at
st7b, tho next nt $3.50 and then a
ia drop to 81.
Men high up In the oil business
it have felt for some time that, re-
gnrdless OF their feelings in th1 mat
ter the Prairie ana Sinclair COM
Sd panles would have TO make n price
differcntiui that would make II pos
sible for them to obtain some OF the
high-grade crude. In the early days
hf of the induatry In oklahoma the
Prairie had dlfferential, hut IL
caused so many disputes and such
n tremendous volume OF bookkecp-
ing that It finally was abandoned.
This company Is not anxious to re-
sumo the practice.
Should the new price schedule go
into offect--and this View is ex-
pressed by wan connected with one
OF the biggest oil organizations In
the country--it Is safe 90 venture
the opinion that along about next
er spring both the purchaser and pro-
Queer Will have had enough OF II.
Purchasers "Choicy'' Now.
''When there is plenty Of crude"
said one well-posted man yesterday
'Tho purchasers can be choicy about
what they take and the price they
1a pay, but tho time Is coming before
great many months when they will
bo wanting any kind of crude pretty
badly, and then It will again be Just
crude to thcm ana It will be the
same price for all OF It,"
Should an arrangement 20 Into
.r effect that viii mean n cut in price
for crude below "a, there will be
n tremendous howl from the owners
OF the old settled. production In
VI Oklahoma--and this old settled
stuff Ia the back bone of tho indus
try Bird Creek, Washington coun-
~, and the old districts of small
seq wells all produce oil OF Il gravity
below "a, and such a price ruling
would mean the virtual running OF
theso producers, should II stay In
effect for protracted period II ~
Iav.G
shows a higher gravity than does oil
from the snme wen when 1t has
reached the settled state. II In
stated that only about 40 per cent
of the Burbank oil at present will
show n gravity OF 3S or above. AS
far back as July Ia a test OF Bur-
bank wells showed an average grav-
ity OF only 369
The producer ot flush oil can nf-
ford to take n lower price for his
output than can the producer in the
old settled fields. But should the
q rumored price schedule go into ct-
feet. this situation would be aNactly
reversed---the flush producer would
get a higher price than the settled
producer.
Whether anything will come out
Of the rumor. OF course, cannot be
stated until the new prices actually
have been posted, but II is known
that n situation has arisen which ~
giving Prairie and Sinclair officials
something to worry about
And. should II 20 into effect, the
independent refiner viii have some-
thing to worry about too. II viii
mean that he viii simply have to
go a little higher with tho premiums
thAt he already Is having 10 pay TO
get choice crude.
Would Hit Rcfiucrs.
The Independent VIII, OF course.
be hardest hit. should the price dif-
ferential go into effect, since preml-
viii naturally take an upward trond
Rs soon as the supply shows signs
OF becoming lower. Tho gasoline
market at present Is not In good COM
ditiOn, stockg are high ana the de-
mand continues 10 fall Off through
out the country.
Grading crude will be a good
thing for the producer OF high
gravity oil aud TO no one else In the
b.. entire oil industry" said an official
OF one OF the largest producing and
refining companies yesterday. 1T
r has been tried out ana found unsatis-
factory. causing a lot OF confusion
in the offices ana much dissentlon
in the fields.
ID, "The Prairie graded crude bRck I'm
1906, when tho supply aud demand
were both much smaller than now.
and consequently much easier han
died and the scheme was a dismal
failure. You can never make one pro-
ducer believe that his oil test
ing, say S5.S or 35.9 Is
worth 80 cents per barrel less than
his neighbours who perhaps takes
little better care of his produc-
tlon and brings II up TO the 80.
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