Evening star., 1947-06-18

before the country can rest easily,
These included:
80 II there are no further
strikes In refineries or elsewhere Ia
the industry: II present refinery
strikes are settled In q reasonable
time; If the maritime strike is not
extended to tankers; there is nc
coal, railroad or steel strike. Con-
gress allows the Maritime Commits
sion to continue operation OF Its
tanker fleet: an adequate number
Of tankers are sold to foreign coun-
tries; II we get steel to build rail-
road tank cars and pipelines, and
finally, ii next winter is not toe
severe. ~
Mr.. Ball later said that a COM
bination OF the ifs. would have to
60 wrong before the oil problem
reaches the critical" stage.
Much Steel Necessary.
world wide plans OF the oil In
dustry for expansion are sufficient
to take care of the situation in the
future . he added. Give us enough
steel and everything will be all
right"
He said steel is needed by the
industry all along the line, but
especially for transportation-to
build tank cars and pipelines.
Authority of the Maritime Com
mission to operate or lease ships,
including tankers, expires June 80.
A bill before Congress would extend
the authority. The commission now
operates about $50 tankers on a
general agency lease basis. These
carry 1,0O0, 900 barrels a day to the
East and overseas. This Is about 40
per cent United States production,
12h per cent Of world consumption.
Oil companies have bought about
all the tankers they can absorb.
Despite this. ABOUT 100 tankers used
in the war are out of service.
The reason oil prospects in the
East are better than In the Mid
west is because tankers haul oil
from Gulf ports to the Atlantic
seaboard, and are more plentiful
than tank ears and pipelines on
which the Midwest is dependent.
Big Pipelines Garry Gas.
The two wartime Inch" pipelines
which first used to transport oil
from Texas now are used for nat
ural gas-also badly needed. More
than 5000 tank cars have worn out
in the past year. Replacement has
been slow.
The Midwest before and during
the war produced enough oil to care
for its own needs. Production has
dropped sharply until at present
considerable products must be
shipped in.
Mr.. Ball said it was necessary to
sell tankers to foreign registry so
oil could be transported from Per-
sian Gulf fields to England, South
ern Europe and North Africa, there
by taking load off of the Caribbean
supply, needed in this country.
American seamen will not operate
ships which do not touch American
ports.
Oil industry officials who believed
demand would drop with the end
of the war have been amazed that
consumption has been running
ahead of wartime and is still going
up. Average production recently
has run 5,050, 900 barrels a day
Production and consumption last
year was higher than during the
war. This year it Is still higher.
Phenomenal Change to Oil.
Principal reasons for this are the
worldwide shortage of fuel and the
phenomenal" rate of conversion to
oil from other fuels in this country.
Farms have been mechanical at
a rapid rate. Farmers now are con-
suming twice as much petroleum
products as before the war.
Homes, industries and railroads
have switched to oil from coal at an
unprecedented and unexpected rate.
This has been caused by the coal
strikes and also because generally
oil is q more satisfactory fuel.
The oil industries present prob
lens are quite similar to those re-
conversion era troubles which have
bothered other industries since VI
day-a huge demand and shortage
Of materials to expand production,
refining and transportation. Re-
fineries now are working at los per
cent OF rated capacity, but still are