OCR Text |
Show Oil The "Nuisance" It is interesting to note that sudden demand for what was hitherto hith-erto considered a nuisance crude ail led to the founding of the American petroleum industry. Many years later a similar demand for another nuisance gasoline was responsible for the industry's amazing expansion and development. develop-ment. In 1859, crude oil was regarded as a valueless substance encountered by salt drillers. Then the world need for a satisfactory illuminant kerosene found a use for it. Years ,later, the discovery and application ap-plication of electricity to lighting seemed to forecast the sudden death of the oil industry. Then the automobile came into existence and a- tremendous demand was cieated for gasoline which, to the industry, had been a waste found in distilling crude oil. The war accelerated the demand for petroleum. The birth of the machine age brought with it a need for lubricants of all kinds. The airplane came into being as an important im-portant consumer. As a result, the oil industry, almost al-most overnight, found that its facilities fa-cilities were entirely inadequate. New fields were discovered, new re-1 fineries built and old ones enlarged, transportation facilities extended. More efficient processes were developed devel-oped and market outlecs increased. No other industry has ever been called upon to make so great a capital outlay within so short a. time, or to so enlarge its scope. This cataclysmic progress wa; responsible for the industry's present pres-ent problem mainly that of overproduction. over-production. Once it was called upon to perform a necessary public pub-lic service in producing more oil. Mow it's giving every effort to achiev ing another and equally important public service that of adjusting supply to demand and conserving our invaluable petroleum resources. |