Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-08-23
THE DUTCH GO AFTER
OIL TOLD OF BY HASKIN
Daily Letter by Frederic j. Haskin

WASHINGTON, Aug. 23:-The
late President Harding, Secretary
of Commerce Hoover and other lead
.ers charged with the welfare o. the
American people have been insist
ing for some time that it is i'm
|portant for the United States to
make foreign explorations and ce-
Iment arrangements to insure q fut-
ure supply of oil.
Although the latest figures of the
United States Geological Survey
show that oil is overproduced in the
United States, this is regarded as a
temporary phenomenon. So many
wells now are producing that the
immediate supply of petroleum is
greater than the public can absorb,
despite the fact that consumption is
at a peak. The operators OF the Los
angeles field in southern California,
one of the richest of the new fields,
went into an arrangement not long
ago I o restrict production to seventy
percent because of lack of storage
space and transport. The whole
mid-continent field now is consider
ing a months suspension of poo
duction.
A cross section of the situation to-
day would not indicate any need for
seeking foreign oil sources, but the
biologists agree that in "A compare
lively few years, American produce
ton will fall off heavily. Then we
shall have to import part of our
supplies of petroleum. If American
owned companies do not already
own oil fields in foreign lands, we
shall be at the mercy of foreign COM
panies and must pay prices for oil
which will not be subject to the
laws governing American companies.
So far not a great deal has been done
by Americans toward actual discoV-
cry and exploitation of foreign oil
fields, although several big American
companies are looking around for
new oil territory. 1t is a game in
which the European companies got
an early start. They have been at
lit a long time. The best possible way
to study how a world wide oil sup
ply may be developed Is to examine
the results of the work of a com
pany which has made a success
at such a venture.
There Is just so much oil in the
ground. Some of it is available in
one part of the world; some in an
other. When a field becomes eX-
hausted, the consumer must look to
another field. The plan therefore,
is to have oil holdings distributed in
various parts of the world, so that
the exhaustion Of one field will not
leave him bereft of a source of sup
ply. II is a proposition OF not car
rylng all his eggs in II basket.
What Tho Dutch Do
One OF the best companies to study
to see how the trick is done is the
Royal Dutch Company for the
Working of Petroleum Wells in
Netherlands India. This is too long
a name for convenience, so the world
has come to refer to this company
as the Shell company. That is what
it is called in Holland-The Royal
Dutch Shell.
The company first was organized
las its name indicates to produce
petroleum in the Dutch East Indies,
but the policy of spreading out and
obtaining other oil sources was adop-
ted early. Little Holland-not much
larger than a Texas county-by fol-
lowing such a policy, has done better
than the Americans and furnishes
an example that we must follow.
Holland does not use as much
gasoline in a year as New York City
alone uses in a week, but Holland
will always be sure of hat needed
supply, and in addition the Dutch
Company will be selling, at its . 4
price TO the rest of the world.
The latest report of the RoyaI
Dutch Smell gives an idea of the
wide ramihcations of it's operations
The report shows where the com.
pany produces oil and how much
The home fields in the Dutch Gasf
Indies, in 1922. produced 2,323,79:
tons, an increase of l per cent ove'
1921; the Sarawak British Yves
iBorneo) holdings produced in 1922
400, SAT tons, an increase Of 102 pei
cent. This is a new field in the Fal
East which is Just coming into de.
velopment and has doubled produc'
ton in one year.
The company's Egyptian working
produced 172,022 tons in 1922, j.;
slight decrease under the preyiou'
year. The Rumaniau field produced
I4O7 APP tons, an increase of % pc.
cent; the Mexican field, 2,643. 90t
tons, an increase OF SO per cent; tn,
Venezuelan field, 350.262 tons, al
increase Of 50 per cent; the Aneri
can mid-continent field, 913,242 ten
an increase of 50 per cent and tn
lAmerican California aeld, 1,7tS,7Sz