Evening star., 1922-03-12

big question today. But not
y half SO big or serious Ques-
tion as 1t will be tomorrow
For years the United States geo.
logical survey has been lifting SOL
emn finger of warning at the enor-
nous consumption of our own oil re-
serves and those of Mexico. And as
the inevitable approaches the call
goes up for pioneering On other con-
tinents by American oil companies.
Under difficulties which make de-
velopment Of petroleum resources in
the United States easy as picking
lilies in comparison, the vanguard OF
great army which is to follow is
blazing its way into the heart Of
South Am erica, a land which contains
approximately one third more oil re-
serves than the United States. And
the fight these pioneers are waging
there to establish future source of
supply for the greatest consumer OF
oil in the world is but skirmish
compared with the battle to be waged
in years to come for supremacy in the
petroleum field.
Although the largest producer and
consumer Of oil in the world, the
United States has been charged with
giving too little heed to the future.
On the other hand, Great Britain,
about the smallest producer Of oil in
the world, has been the first to fore
see the great Importance of petroleum
to her industrial future and, by fol-
lowing up vision with action, has been
the most active in providing for that
future. So the question does not con-
fine itself to whether the oil COM
panies Of the United States should
enter the competition for supremacy
in South American fields-it is mat
ter which calls for immediate action
Great Britain and the United States
as represented by their oil companies
are jockeying for advantage in four
Of the greatest present producing
countries Of South America-Colom
bia, Venezuela, Bolivia and Peru. In
Colombia and in Bolivia the American
oil companies may be said to have
slightly the upper hand, while the re-
Peru. In Argentina, another country
with promise Of great oil production.
the government has retained most of
the petroleum supply for its own use,
and development by foreign compa-
MES is negligible in comparison.
But the oil production in South
America 10 only beginning. Some of
the territory believed to contain oil
has never been geographically ex-
plored, while the enormous difficult
ties which must be overcome in OBJ
tanning oil in South America have pre-
vented the extensive exploitation of
known petroleum reserves.
Commenting on South Americas
oil resources, DR.. David White, chief
geologist Of the United States geo
logical survey, said that South
Americas petroleum content is prob
ably larger than that Of any other
continent, with the possible exception
Of North America. DR.. White esti-
mates the oil resources of South
America at approximately 10000
600 barrels, of which about s,000,-
900 900 barrels Is estimated to lie in
regions already shown by tho drill
to contain commercial oil pools.
'"The estimate Of $4,000, ,0o0. 900 bar
rels for the entire continent is avow-
edly conservative" DR.. White said
"and I am disposed to believe that
South Americas production will
eventually exceed this amount.
"As the very fragmentary and in
complete evidence stands now. the
continent may be counted on to fur
nish one-fifth of the worlds supplies
of natural petroleum. Thirteen bill
lion barrels is approximately twice
the amount Of. oil remaining, similar
ly recoverable, in the ground in the
United States, as calculated by the
same methods, but with very much
greater refinement"
DR.. White believes that every one
of the South American republics
eventually will contribute to the
worlds supply of oil, and he stresses
the need for geological investigations
by the various Latin American gov
ernments. While the conditions
, known to be primarily essential to an
oil field already have been demon
strated as being present in many por-
tions Of South America, there is need
for more exact Information, accord
ing to DR.. White. who points out that
a systematic survey or reconnaissance
of its prospective petroleum wealth
commends itself to tho country whose