Evening star., 1942-02-15
Oil Men Oppose
Early Curb on
Gasoline
Deny Rotionine Need
As Tire Ban Cuts
Civilian Driving
BY FRANK MacMILLEN,

lIlc aver age COllSulIltl UcoplUC w doll-
ington reports that such a step was
contemplated shortly.
They maintained that sinkings Of
tankerS recently and the transfer
of some of the oil boats to new
routes had not yet made, and did
not promise in the near future to
make, the gasoline supply situation
critical.
Backbone Of their argument was
the Government rationing of tires,
which they asserted already had cut
more sharply than expected into the
average citizens consumptxn Of
gasoline
But they also cited the stocks
of various petroleum products on
hand as an argument that ration
ing was not called for now.
Definite statistics on how much
casual civilian driving has fallen
off as a result of the limitation of
tire sales are difficult to arrive at,
it was admitted.
This is because the official figures
of the industry, compiled by the
American Petroleum Institute, are
overall totals, which make no dis
tinction between gasoline and oil
used for Army, Navy and defense
needs and that used for pleasure"
driving.
200 Outlets Closed.
A survey by a major oil company
in a large Middle Western city
showed some 200 retail outlets shut
down during January, however, and
oil men were convinced this was
an indication Of the extent to which
casual civilian consumption already
was being curbed by the necessity
OF conserving tires.
One Oil authority expressed the
opinion individual civilian consump-
ton had dropped 10 to 20 per cent
since tire restrictions were an
nounced. even though other factors
had tended to obscure the drop for
the time being.
In any case, 1t was pointed out,
statistics for the country as a whole,
and for the critical heavy consump-
ton area of the East, while showing
some effects Of the wartime strain,
failed to indicate the likelihood OF
any nearby shortage.
Latest Figures Given.
For the country. the latest figures
showed:
|. Stocks of finished and unfin-
ished gasoline now 100,224 900 bar
rels, compared with 92,51l 900 year
ago
2. Light heating oils tmostly home
oil-heater fueD 40035 900 barrels,
compared with 1929 900 year ago.
3. Heavy fuel oils Cmostly used in
Industry 90,859,000 barrels, COM
pared with 97,782000 a year ago.
In the East and the nearby Middle
West, which consume the major
share of the country's gasoline,
latest stocks were 23,286 900 barrels,
compared with % ,96l 900 year ago,
an increase of 325 900 barrels.
These and following figures, from
the A. P. I. compilation, cover prod
ucts in storage, not only In the East
ern seaboard area, but also in the
Appalachian oil producing and re-
fining area, which oil men consider
accessible to both East Coast and
Middle West.
In light and heavy fuel oils, the
situation is less satisfactory IN this
territory, oil men said, but by no
means critical.
Light heating oils showed 1892, :
900 barrels on hand, decrease Of
447 900 or 3.3 per cent from a year
ago; and heavy oils in storage were
9,139 900 barrels, nearly II per cent
less than year ago.
Peak to Be Passed Soon.
However, it was pointed out, this
latter situation promised to improve
shortly because the winter season
in which home heating oil demand
was at peak would shortly be over,
and increasing amounts OF the ad-
mittedly limited tanker space would
be devoted to building up the dwlnd-
ling supply of industrial fuel. Mean
while stocks of the latter were
caHed adequate" by oil men.
Plans were reported under con-
sideration for the pooling OF
tanker facilities devoted to handling
heavy oils so that the tankers could
be used more efficiently. But so far
no active steps have been taken, it
was said, because of doubts that
concerted action could be had with
out violation of Federal antitrust
laws.
Meanwhile oil men again, as they
did last summer, were turning to
the problem of substituting railroad
tank cars as far as possible for the
destroyed and transferred tank
ships.
An oil industry compilation indi-
Gates there are about 145,00O tank
cars in the country which are capa-
BILE of carrying petroleum products.
How much any given car can ham
die is, of course, matter of what
product is hauled and how long the
trip to be completed land almost
always, it is added, tank car must
IIldkt oil CHlpty tlip 1Ol CfCiy AuAA
one).
Believes Increase Possible.
An authority on the movement OF
petroleum by tank cars has reached
the conclusion that each of these
wheeled tankers can average two
and-a-half trips a month.
Thus, the railroad tanker fleet, in
theory at least. can haul some TO-
00O, 900 barrels of petroleum products
a month.
Even admitting the contention of
some who have studied the problem,
that this is an ideal rather than a
practical operating total, 1t still
shows considerable slack in the rail-
roads ability to offset a tanker
shortage, oil men here said.
Rail movement Of oil into the East
has reached the record d-breaking
rate of approximately 1000 cars a
day and now meets about IS per
cent of the demands of the Atlantic
seaboard area, the Petroleum Co
ordination Office reported yesterday.
Total rail movements for the week
ended February 7 amounted to 223,-
900 barrels in $685. cars.