Imperial Valley press., 1941-06-11
by Peter Edson...
The Inside Track in Washington

WASHINGTON, June Il - The
more you examine this American
Petroleum Institute proposal that
the entire United States-yea, even
the western Aemisphere-bc put on
n iov-rideless weekend and a cold
house week. in order to conserve
fuel oil and gasoline for defense
purposes. the crazier it looks. why
the United States Of all countries
with an estimated 9 billion barrel
oil reserve underground, and with
production now rigidly restricted
bv the states, should feel an oil
shortage" so acute that it is being
reflected in higher prices. is some
thing that requires looking into II
ever anything did. 1t just doesn't
make sense. put in trying to get at
the why's and wherefores, you run
into a long series Of riddles.
In the first place, there is no
shortage OF oil or gasoline. Inc
big East Texas oil fields, which
ran Wild until state quotas on
production were put into effect,
could more than supply all us.
reeds if wells now kept ON limited
supply we're allowed to produce to
Capacity. That would leave the i'm
mense production CT California, Ok
lahoma. Illinois and Louisiana as
reserve. How does that add up to
make a shortage?
The only real, imaginary or ap-
rarert scarcity in sight IS one that
might affect the Atlantic sea-
board. ard il would hit here only If
there should develop q shortage OF
TRANSFORMATION for petroleum pro-
ducts. transportation IN this case
means: 1-Tankers to ship the oil
from ports of the Gulf OF Mexico
to ports on the Atlantic Coast. 2
Tank cars to ship the oil by rail.
3-Tank trucks to haul by high
way. 4-Fipe lines.
Take EN- one at time.
OF TANKERS. AND TANK CARS
At least SO tankers. aggregating
some 100000 TONS Of shipping have
ir recent months been transfer
RED from U. s. to foreign registry
These with some lG other tankers
are engaged principally in ship
ping oil for Britain. Vessels under
US. Registry cannot ship directly
to England, but they can 90 into
neutral ports Of South America
or Africa for trans-shipment.
These 40 tankers. however, repre-
sent less than 10 per cent of the
tanker tonnage owned by U. S. oil
companies and should not create a
shortage of bottoms if vessels left
in the U. S. coastal trade were
supplemented by other means Of
transport.
Latest figures on railroad tank
cars, collected in Septamber, IJf1
Indicated there were 105 3oJ tank
cars in petroleum product so~vico.
Nearly 80 coo Of these cars were
owned by the oil companies or their
subsidiaries, 1000 being owned by
the railroads. There was, however
q surplus Of 5000 tank cars for
the business then existing, which
indicates that the transportation
o. petroleum products by rail could
be- stepped up if correctly organized
and trainload rates put into effect
To reduce cost Of haulage, with
requirements for immediate un-
loading and return cf empties.
Tank trucks and trailers are now
used extensively by the oil com
panics for highway haulage from
railhead 10 supply stations Organi-
zatiOn Of these tank trucks into a
pool fer long-distance transport
could be Of material relief in STRAIT
egic areas. Standard limit OF capac-
ity on these tank wagons is 1000
gallons weighing some 10 tons.
State legislation ii Tennessee, Ala
bama and Mississippi limits loads
to Is tons and in kentucky it is
nine tons. Restrictions Ike these
might have to be modified. but
there is a fair means here for in
c.eaeiug transport facilities TO
maintain supply
Because shipping by tankers is
the cheapest means Of transport
for petroleum products. pipelines
to the Atlantic seaboard are not
numerous but even the existing
57OO0-rnile pipeline network could
be made TO carry increased traffic.
Cne difficulty here is that the
pipelines arc owned by the major