CRUDE OIL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 23 February 1939, Page 7

CRUDE OIL

INCREASE IN PRODUCTION. CANADIAN DEVELOPMENTS. OTTAWA. Petroleum refineries in Canada used I over 1,435.500.000 Imperial gallons of crude oil in 1937 as compared with 1,286.822,000 gallons in 1936. While the quantity of imported crude oil used increased by 14.5 per cent, the feature of the year was the fact that domestic crude oil used was more than double that of the previous year. Crude oil from the United States used for refining purposes amounted to 994,440,000 gallons as compared with 906,642,000 gallons in 1936 while that from other countries, mainly from Colombia, Peru and Venezuela increased from 337,028. 500 gallons to 349,136,000 gallons. In addition nearly 2,000,000 gallons of benzol was used for blending purposes in 1937 while only 359,748 gallons were used in 1936. This was practically all imported although the country of origin was not stated. Production of crude oil in Canada has increased considerably in recent years and in 1938, with the bringing in of a number of new wells, the output will establish a new high record. In Western Canada, at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, the production in the first nine months of 1938 is estimated at ' 5,174,575 barrels as compared with 1,749,615 barrels in the corresponding period last year. Although oil is also found in other parts of Canada, the quantity produced is comparatively small. The Bank of Montreal, in its monthly business summary refers to this spectacular increase in oil production in Western Canada in the following manner: "New oil wells, which have recently come into production in the Turner Valley in Southern Alberta, have enlarged substantially the area of proven oil-bearing territory, and once the problem of marketing the product of this field is solved, it should be the scene of a very Important Industry.”