Evening star., 1932-11-06
EARLY RISE IN OIL
PRICE IS RUMORED
Wall Street Hears of Posi-.
BILE Advance as Output
Declines.
BY BRADLEY TRENT.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK, November 5-Oil. gas
oline. and natural gas. as a result of
current dividend actions. statistics and
price movements, are being much dis
cussed in both business and financial
circles here
sharp decline in crude oil output
last week. as reported by the American
Petroleum Institute. along with a reduc-
ton of motor fuel inventories. were due
to a slower oil flow in Texas and
slackened rate of refining.
Price Advance Rumored.
Coincidentally with these statistics
came reports that gasoline prices, along
the Atlantic seaboard at least, would be
advanced for both bulk and retail. These
facts more than outweighed the halving
Of the SoconyVacuum Oil dividend,
which was due largely to conditions In
the Orient rather than in the domestic
market. Standard Oil of Indiana de-
clared the regular 25-cent quarterly
dividend.
The steady improvement in the entire
American oil industry perhaps is best
reflected in the movement Of shares.
Petroleum securities behaved better in
October than any other group on the
two main Stock Exchanges here. They
averaged decline of only per cent
against an average drop for all shares
approximating IA per cent.
Naturally this movement in oil shares
has heartened the petroleum industry
which has been encouraged also by the
fact that most members are willing to
cooperate in curtailing production and
refining b. the pickup in numerous in
dustrial lines requiring fuel or lubricat
ing oils, and by the open weather which
has permitted motoring longer than
usual at this season As result, in
ventories of gasoline have not yet
started to nile up as they normally do
every Autumn.
Figures without explanations often
are OF little value. This is true of
the recent statistics of the Bureau of
Mines showing that natural gas last
year approximated 1853 trillion cubic
feet. This is 13 per cent below the
1880 output. Furthermore. it is the
first time in a decade that natural
gas did not show an annual expansion
all OF which might be discouraging.
Drop in Gas Output.
The report. however, reveals that the
sharp falling off in natural gas pro-
duction resulted from lessened demand
for field purposes and the manufac-
ture of carbon black These declines
are perfectly natural. Only 10000 oil
and gas wells were completed in 1881,
against 21,000 in 1890, which brought
about decrease of 81 per cent in the
use of natural gas for such purpose
Overproduction and low prices forced
the manufacturers of carbon black to
restrict their operations, so that volume
of natural gas used by that industry
dropped 27 per cent.
On the other side of the picture Is
the domestic and commercial customer,
who used IL per cent more natural
gas than in 1880. These uses COM
bined totaled % per cent of all con-
sumption. This is noteworthy in view
of the depression. which affected homes
quite as much as industry. Further
more domestic and commercial Gus
toners. who have grown steadily since
1906, rose to nearly 100000 in 1881,
an advance of % per cent from 1890.
Electric power plants continue to in
crease their use of natural gas. which
in 1881 amounted to $4,000 900 900 cubic
feet, rise of is per cent. General
industrial uses, in the face of the de-
preston, amounted to 10 per cent, a
slight gain. Texas produces and uses
more natural gas than any other State,
though Ohio sells more natural gas for
domestic and commercial use than any
other State.
(Copyrisht. ls32)