WORLD’S OIL SUPPLIES

Hokitika Guardian, 26 March 1921, Page 4

WORLD’S OIL SUPPLIES

V T AST stores AWAIT DEVELOPMENT. LONDON, Feb. 3. At the launching of the new tank l steamship, British Viscount, at New- ' castle-on-Tyne, Sir Charles Greenway, n chairman of the Anglo-Porsmn Oil Company, took advantage to reply to n 1 speech recently delievered on a similar, t occasion bv Mr Francis Powell, the; i chief representative of American oil \ interests in Great Britain. “No one country,” said Sir Charles, “can possibly hope to develop satisfactorily the resources and meet the demands of the whole world, and the more enterprise, brains, and capital, whether of American, British, French, Roumanian, or any other nationality, that can he devoted to the discovery and production of the vast stores o oil, which umlobutedly still await development in the hidden recesses of the earth, the better for the world in general. And there is no reason at all why this participation in the work of oil production by other nations and the safeguarding by each country of its own oil position should not he carried out in a perfectly friendly spirit and without undue encroachment upon the vested interests of those already in the trade. Let us get rid once and ior all of these petty and selfish jealousies, and I recognise that oil now plays a far too I important part in the welfare of every nation for it, or any preponderating" part of it, or lie under the control oi any one country, or group of oil men. If each country devotes its eneigie-' and brains chiefly to the supp’v of its own "markets, it will have quite enough to do to occupy the energies of its oil men, and will make quite enough profit to satisfy any reasonable aspiration*.” Similarly optimistic reference to the future supplies of oil tuel was made by .Mr R. P. Brousson, director of the Anglo-Persian Petroleum Company, at the launching of the Eagle Oil Transport Company’s San Felix, an oil tanker of 18,d()0 tons. There had been some pessimistic remarks made of late, said Mr Brousson, respecting the amount of oil fuel available, yet in the face in such statements his comptny [ was carrying through a programme of great; expansion in regard to the provision of oil tankers, and when this programme was completed the company I would have a deadweight tonnage of , MO,OOO. which would he capable ot carrying at least three mil.ion tons of I oil fuel annually. Those figures wen’ an earnest of the faith which the big group represented by the Mexican ' Eagle, the Royal-Dutch, and the Shell had in the future of oil iuel. That powerful combination ot interests would never have undertaken such a programme of expansion unless they were fully and absolutely confident a'out the future supplies "I petroleum, lhc future of oil for marine purposes was largely with the motor ship, though not absolutely, for it "as necessary that there should lie vessels which could also l,urn the heavier fuel oils. The rot ore the steam-driven ship r, lining on oil I'm 1 was to-day as sound a proposition as ever, even in face of t':e economy ot the motor ship which used a lighter fuel. Sir A. E. Shipley, F.R.S., the eminent scientist, has drawn attention it' an arfiele in “The Times.’' to what may become a serious menace to mean life in the waters around the coasts oi Europe by the extensive use of oil fuel. Another writer points out that proof has been given throng.i recent studies of lubrication an! of chemical neti n as all'ccled by surface impurity, that films of oil ol infinite tenuity, of molecular thickness, in lad, alone sutures to produce the efleets ordinal ily associated with large quantities; they mav stay chemical action altogether. “Life in the ocean starts at and irom the surface,” says the correspondent. “Oificial complacency may favour the view that grown-up fish are not likely to he affected, but big fleas always have little (leas upon their hacks, to bite cm. The big fish live on little fish, and these in turn, on the surface growth oi algae and other unicellular organisms. An oil film would not affect the absoiption of oxygen nor prevent light Irom acting; its effect would lie insidious and fatal. The. oils now let loose at sea are not easily destroyed by chemical action, and wc arc only hoginning to foul our ocean nest, with them—they may easily be spread over large areas. Fo tell us that fishing is, in any sense, a small industry is preposterous; il lilo began in the sea, of all diets it is the nearest ft, us. The consideration that is asked for should certainly he given to so threatening a menace, at least in order that steps may he taken to reduce the nuisance to a minimum.”