Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-10-20
NATURAL GASOLINE INDUSTRY
SETS NEW PRODUCTION RECORD
Total of 1,814,O34,O 900 Gallons Produced In
1928-Prices Also Show Distinct
Increase Over 1927 Figures.

The natural gasoline industry con-
tinued to establish new records in 1928,
when q total of 1,Sl4,034, 900 gallons
was produced, according to the United
States Bureau of Mines, Department Of
Commerce. This represents an increase
over 1927 of IL per cent, as compared
with an annual increase of 20 per cent
the preceding year and 81 per cent in
both 1925 and 1925, and indicates a
slowing down in expansion to point
close to the average for the petroleum
industry as a whole.
In 1928 natural gasoline showed a
distinct increase over the quotations Of
1927. The main reason for this in
crease in prices was the comparative
absence of distress" product on the
market; in other words, the supply of
natural gasoline in 1928 was about
equal to the demand. The relationship
between the production Of natural gaso-
line and the production of refinery
gasoline (the straight run and cracked
products) In 1928 was vastly different
from that in 1927. The production Of
gasoline at refineries in 1927 repre-
sented an increase of 10 per cent over
the previous year, and the production
Of 1928, an increase Of Is per cent over
1927. On the other hand, the annual
increase in output Of natural gasoline
in 1927 was nearly double that of 1928.
This important change in the position
from storage in 1928 and to q general
betterment Of economic conditions in
the industry.
100000 Gallons Withdrawn.
During 1928 1914, Zoo, 900 gallons Of
natural gasoline was produced and ST.
000, 900 gallons withdrawn from storage,
total supply OF 1915, 900 900 gallons
OF this total 1893, 000,O0 gallons. or ~
per cent, was reported as blended at
reflneries; 07,000,U00 gallons, or s per
to stills; 27,O0o,0o0 gallons, or Is per
cent, was blended at the plants, and
rs, 0O0,0 900 gallons, or is per cent, was
estimated to have been blended by job
bers, leaving 261 ,O00, 900 gallons, or IA
per cent, for losses and quantities not
accounted for. These figures, compared
with those of the preceding year, rep
line by reflnerS and jobberS, but de-
creases in amounts run through pipe
lines and blended by the manufacturers
at their plants.
Although the Misunderstanding manu-
facturers were favored by an increase
in the demand for their product by re-
f1ners in 1928, they slackened little, If
at all, their attempts to create new
markets. The trend of modern refinery
practice has been to get away from
blending, which, with the recent growth
Of vapor-phase cracking, has given
the natural-gaSoline manufacturer no
no data are available on the use of the
lighter ends Of natural gasoline for
heating or In the chemical industry. it
Is probable that such consumption grew
materially in 1928. A comparatively
| new development in the marketing of
natural gasoline has occurred, in the
export trade. The use of natural gaso-
line as a blending material in the
manufacture Of the so-called export
gasolines has been popular for some
time, but such blending has usually
been done in this country; only recently
has the practice of shipping natural
| gasoline in bulk by tankers to foreign
| countries assumed importance. The
demand for natural gasoline has been
growing rapidly in the aviation indus
| try and, In the absence of specific data
on consumption, may be assumed to be
increasing in proportion to the growth
In number Of aeroplanes.
Fewer Plants Completed.
The influence of the flush production
OF 1927 and the consequent building of
natural-gasoline plants to utilize the
natural gas produced with the crude
spent itself in 1928, with the result that
fewer plants were completed and the to-
tai production for the country resumed
lLS decline. The total number of oper-
atorS and plants for 1928 were 369 and
I ,O7S, respectively, as compared with
1874 and Lilo the preceding year. Okla
homa continued to lead in the number
OF plants, having nearly twice the num-
Der OF its nearest rival, Texas.
The average yield of natural gasoline
| per thousand cubic feet of gas treated
Tor the industry as a whole amounted
TO l.23 gallons If 1928, as compared
with 1872 in 1927. This increase, while
apparently negligible, is really Of con-
siderable import, when the enormous
amounts of gas treated are considered
The average yield in Oklahoma, the
leading producing State, was % gal
Ions in 1928, as compared with 81
gallons In 1927. The yield in Cali
fornia was unchanged, but that In
Texas fell from IL to 10 gallons. This
| operation OF number Of new plants
built to run on large quantities Of lean
] gas. In general, the Eastern States
have the lowest yields, but Illinois lee
all the States In 1928, with recovery
Of 2.6 gallons.
The trend toward the absorption
1 method of producing natural gasoline
was continued in 1928, when tota
Of 1,563, 929 900 gallons, or SO per cert
Of the total, was produced by TIM
method, as contrasted with 226, O60, 0Ot
gallons, or IS per cent, for the straight
compression method and 24O45. 600 gar
Ions, or ! per cent, for the charcoa
process. The absorption figures, how
ever, include the production from
methods that combine the compression
or charcoal methods with absorption:
The number of compression plants con
tinued to decline; only 446 were IL
operation In 1928, as compared will
400 in 1927. This decline. as In forme
years, was the result of the dismantlinl
Of small plants, principally in tn
Eastern States, which have proven un
economic at the prices prevailing owe
the past several years. The numbe
Of absorption plants increased from
SOC in 1927 to 604 in 1928. Practical!
all Of the new plants were in tn
Seminole area ard In Panhandle ant
North Central Texas. The number o
Il -