UNLOCKING THE OIL SUPPLIES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 286, 12 May 1915, Page 7

UNLOCKING THE OIL SUPPLIES.

lISUUOKH • : ' v <!AI.'LOX.S AWATTI.VI! I .IX-nCLIiASK I (J*y Sydney 11. North. ()ii!- of the. most important operation* in which 1 i-c Allied ib'ets have ciuoiyed ih thai, of opeim!;; 1 up the sea- route I row the cc-.i--is of !!\-s>ia ami lioununva to the highvays of the world. The miiilary -.«if"ets of '.ids aciion may he oi vital siuniiicamv, but the economic oi'.foots ji'y'v HtiU n; .re vital, iniiueu-iug, lis they (io. the «< 'fare of millions within aiini withovit tliv -e two co-antrio:-:. .i'or mouths past the enormous amoiini of agricultural and otliei' le'oduce e-i the great liussian Empire has lu-e.n 10..k,-il in, una de to move, and tho Ulacl; '!'-- a has been the Dead Sea. so far as t.Ve traffic id nations is coneevntd. So world wide is our trade, how-,-jvcr, tha:t we haw suU'ered couipava■iively little from too cutting out of Ison-ices of supply. it is a -matter of common knowledge tliat the su irces from which draw our oil for lighting, heating, for fuel, a.'id for mciun'-cars. are the I'iiited States, Huss'c,, the -Dutch Indies IbnuuMiia, and Mexico. Soon iifler (he war broke out part of these louiees was closed to v.s. and the, figures rep restating the .shipments to Uii-, vouutry iroiu Aiius'u-:i urc i;f 11k- v:(ni'i< v rfn! Wva'lv I'i'uiu that una Her.

During j'ust U'\v ivunitiis tin l oil \w\V\ of 'aiul HoU'iiiUiiu I'ontiuuod fo j)ro;liu*o oi). nnd li.id to coiitinno ' to do so Yv'IHTC lii'bsv wan for the closing down of a producing we'll is a I'ostly, and. often ruinous, res.U't. The liil must either be pumyieil unremittingly or water, some hundred* o feet down, may percolate through vjnto the Well and Hood it hevoiu! redeiu]!tion. •,\l few figures Will show clear!) what the cessation of l!us,.ia's export trade lias done to the oil industry. IU'SSIAX STORKS. Ti:e output of oil from Pais--!",-a oil tvo!!s amounts, approximately, to oig'l.t million tons a year, of which, after le(ining, a large quantity goes into the ( interior, and the balance is exported.: In tile year l!i!:l the total ijunntity of ■ different oil products amounted to about live million tons: in 191-1 this had fallen to about three, and a. ha!f osilnon tons. I'.ut this is not the worst of the ca*e, for, in eon:-e(|uence of the stoppage of [>\ports th.rough the Dardanelles, the l-tocks had aeeuniulated to the extent nf one and a, half million tons, or half ns much again compared with a year tigo. This was at the end of 101-t, since ft lien two months have 'passed, and proliahly more wili bo added to this before liussia can get her enormous accumulation of oil and other products away. Taking the same proportion, this means tliat two million tons or s'o of various oil products will be available for distribution-.

1 l'ortimately, or unfortunately, scvpral of the newer districts, such as the l T ral-C'aspian and Kmba-C'aspian districts are increasing their production rnph"y, and the storage accommodation for all this ever-growing quantity nf oil is not sufficient. In tiie year ltlli! we relieved Russia of thirty-six million gallons of different descriptions of oil, Wore than a third of which was benzine or petrol; last year, owing to tho war. we could only get twenty-one million, callous. This yea.r a rpiarter of which has nearly gone, we have taken nothing from lur of any description, so that it needs little imagination to conjure tip the vast stores of liquid and solid Wealth which are waiting to llow through the Dardanelles when the gateWay has been forced.

Rouniania is in a similar plight, but rather worse, inasmuch as her organisation and facilities are not so ample. Her lot is. indeed, a hard one. For years past her oilmen, backed by the Government, have striven energetically to build up a prosperous industry. Tier ambitions lay in the direction of securing some portion of that most profitable section of the trade, the manufacture and sale of benzine or petrol. And her success was considerable.

KOniAXTA AND GALTCTA. The total output from Roumanian wells in 101:5 amounted to 1.5.5.1.HQ0 tons; in l!H-t to 1,771,000 tons, not so great decline, considering the adverse conditions, lint, unfortunately, she is one of the innocents who suffer, and only tlie opening of the sea route again ami tiie resumption of her export trade can save her from disaster. Compared with Russia. her oil industry is small, yet at' tlie end of last year the accumulated stocks of oil amounted, according to the Petroleum Review, to (500,000 tons. The same authority states also that tlicse reserves have increased at the rate of (iO.OHO tons a. month, so that at tlie eml of March there will he hoarded liji in Boumania about 800,00(1 tons of oil. And still production goes on, and must, go on.

There is another oil country, completing the trio, which is suffering practical extinction for the time being, and that is Galicia, now in the hands of the. Russians. - Two years ago f passed right through tlie country where the Austrian armv luis been so badly handled, in more I senses than one. Along the whole llank I of the Carpathians lie the oil lands of Gnlicia. The oil wells, their derricks jutting ii]) against the skv-line, seem to be clinging insecurely to the hillsides. They peep out from the wellWooded sides of the slopes of the Lower Carpathians, and come suddenly into view from among the trees as one rumbles along the railway track. If, as is reported, the Russians have (lone lit lie or no damage to the wells, then they must he very careful and accurate gunners, for in the richest oil ■ region. Drobobyex, the derricks stand fairly thick, and a shell would verv soon demolish the wdiole surface works. Hitherto, the importance of Galicia ■ (is an oil country has not been sufficiently recognised. When this turmoil Itnd strife are over jmd the arts of peace once again hold their rightful svay, Galicia should rank with Roumania in . I lie oil industry, and its oil products find their way to the markets of the . world.