Evening star., 1924-06-26
GOVERNMENT SUITS
AROUSE OIL men
Dealers Anticipate No Immediate
Effect on Situation by Move to
Restore Competition"
SUPPLIES STILL PILING UP
Downward Movement in Prices
Said to Be Gaining Momentum.
BY j. c. ROYLE.

Special Dispatch TO The Star.
NEW YORK, June 26.-No striking
effect on the crude oil or gasoline
situation is anticipated in that in
dustry as result of the suit filed by
Attorney General Stone against fifty
prominent oil companies to "restore
competition" according to men not
included in the suit.
New processes for production ot
gasoline are being developed con-
stantly, they claim, and in some in
stances by the time suits for in
frlngement have been tried or settled
the process involved may become OBJ
solete.
Oil Stocks Very Heavy.
Recently meeting of producers in
the Tonkawa field of Oklahoma was
called by E. w. Marland to discuss a
shutdown to restrict production and
Improve prices. Only one company
sent a representative to the meeting.
Stocks of crude oil are heavy today
and storage space is crowded in spite
OF tremendous construction programs
which have added large tanks and
reservoirs in various sections of the
country in the last year. A total
domestic output of oil has recently
risen toward the 100000 barrel a
day mark, and is about 4 per cent
higher than in the first quarter of the
year.
This has come about, in spite of the
fact that the downward movement of
prices has been gaining momentum
since storage capacity is limited
there has been nothing for refiners
10 90 but turn very considerable
other refined products This has
been followed by a reduction in gas
ollne prices of as much as 2 cents a
gallon in some sections. These facts
OIL men say, will be far more potent
at least in the near future, than the
suit just filed.
New Kind of Fuel Possible.
The demand for gasoline at present
Is somewhere near 20 per cent great
er than last year. but production. il
Is claimed, is still exceeding con-
sumption. In addition, it is known
and this was exemplified by the type
of motor used in the Indianapolis
races-that the trend of motor en-
gine construction is toward the high
pressure, small-cylinder. high-speed
type. in which the present type OF
gasoline, produced under the crack.
larly well. Development of motor
fuels, therefore, seems at present
away from the cracking process and
toward some system which will pro.
ud'S d HISHeT STdue motor Tue
cheaply.
In this connection the Linton proc
ess has been under investigation BY
several large companies. In this
process preheated heavy crude is al
lowed to flow by gravity over heated
steel plates in such a manner tha
each fraction of the oil is subjected
TO some temperature higher than it:
own boiling point. but not under
pressure The gases so released are
then led into a condenser, from which
the motor fuel flows. This process
it is asserted is not a cracking proc
ess, but one of isomerization.
More Efficiency Claimed
1t is claimed by its sponsors tha,
the distillate SO produced will give
far more efficiency than gasoline pro-
duced by cracking, which latter proc
eSS involves pressure, and that it car
be produced at far less cost.
number of other processes for pro,
duction of motor distillate are ir
process of development, both BY
large companies and individual in.
veStigatorS.
The demand for fuel oil also mus
be considered in connection with the
production of gasoline in view of the
determination of the Shipping BoarG
to equip certain number of it's yes
sells with internal combustion engines
of some type. Recent orders at the
large shipyards such as Cramps anl
Bethlehem, also indicate that the mo-
tor-driven vessel is coming into more
general use.