THE QUEST FOR OIL

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 134, 11 March 1940, Page 2

THE QUEST FOR OIL

NEEDS OF GERMANY STOCKS ACCUMULATED Before the war Germany obtained nearly 90 per cent of her imported oil from sources which are now cut off by the Allied blockade. Chiefly, these were Venezuela. Netherlands Indies, and the United States. The Rumanian and Russian wellssupplied only a little over 10 per cent of German imports, and, moreover, the normal way for the production from the most important Rumanian fields to reach the Reich was through Constanza to the North Sea norts. Since the war began, Germany has obtained one of the Galician oil fields formerly held by Poland, but the richer districts of Drohobycz, Kolomea and Stanislawow have gone to Russia. The corftbined output of the two areas in 1937 was 500,000 tons. Recently Germany is reported to have been granted access to the Russian fields in Poland. Transport Troubles. i The Frankfurter Zeitung has just admitted that transport difficulties are mainly responsible for the lack of oil supplies from Rumania and Poland, as Gemany has not enough tank wagons. The same newspaper has been belittling the Rumanian fields, most of which are controlled by British, French and American interests, but, nevertheless, the Nazis have been showing anxiety to extract whatever oil they can from them. In assessing the German oil position it is important to remember that there is no relationship between her imports in recent years and her consumption. A bulletin of the Royal Institute of International Affairs paints out that even four years ago there must) have been much oil in storage. In 1936 consumption was calculated at 4,560,000 tons, and the import needs would be 2,700,000 tons. Actual imports were 4.218,000 tons. In 1938 imports were 4,967,000 tons, and home production had considerably increased. It appears, therefore, that the Nazis probably stored 6,000,000 to 7,000,000 fans of imported petroleum between 1936 and the middle Qf last year.