NATURAL-GAS GASOLINE By G. B. RICHARDSON A total of 816,226,000 gallons of raw (unblended) natural-gas gasoline, having a value at the plants of $77,268,000, was produced in the United States in 1923. This output, an increase of 61 per cent over that of 1922, was more than double that of 1920, and the year's increase of 310 million gallons is more than the total production of 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 FIGURE 15.-Natural-gas gasoline produced, total quantity of natural gas consumed, and portion treated for the extraction of gasoline, 1911-1923 the country in 1918. Notwithstanding an increase of 22 per cent in the quantity of gasoline produced from petroleum in 1923, the quantity of gasoline produced from natural gas was equivalent to approximately 11 per cent of the quantity of gasoline produced from petroleum, as contrasted with 8 per cent in 1922. The rank of the four leading States-Oklahoma, Texas, California, and West Virginia-remained the same as in 1921 and 1922, although Oklahoma's output has increased 43 per cent and that of West Virginia only 12 per cent over that of 1922, whereas the output of Texas has increased 86 per cent and that of California 158 per cent. The increased production of natural-gas gasoline in California followed the development of the new fields in the Los Angeles Basin, in which great quantities of natural gas were produced with the petroleum, but only a fraction of the gas available was utilized, and large quantities, both before and after the extraction of gasoline, were not consumed. During 1923 the number of compression plants decreased and the number using the oil-absorption process, both singly and in combination with the compression process, increased; the new charcoal process, by which natural gas is brought into intimate contact with activated charcoal, in the capillaries of which the vapors are condensed, was reported in use by 10 plants. The increased average capacity of the plants now in operation, contrasted with those of five years ago, is emphasized by the fact that although the total number of plants operated in 1918 and 1923 was about the same, 1,067 in 1923 and 1,004 in 1918, the output in 1923 was almost three times that in 1918. The quantity of natural gas treated in the recovery of the naturalgas gasoline produced in 1923 was equivalent to 87 per cent of the total quantity of natural gas consumed in the United States, as contrasted with 71 per cent in 1922, 54 per cent in 1917, and 2 per cent in 1913. These figures not only show the growth of the industry from another viewpoint and the increasing conservation of natural gas, but they indicate the near approach of the time when the available annual supply of gas, which heretofore has been much in excess of the quantity treated for the extraction of gasoline, will be a controlling factor in the growth of the industry. The following tables were compiled by E. M. Seeley. Natural-gas gasoline produced in the United States in 1922 and 1923, by methods of manufacture Natural-gas gasoline turned into crude-petroleum pipe lines in 1923, by States" • Included in figures of production. Corresponding data for preceding years not available. Gallons 3,529, 365 25, 124 1,837, 629 74, 535, 050 Natural-gas gasoline produced in the United States, 1911-1923, by States, in thousands of gallons Natural-gas gasoline produced in the United States, 1911–1923, by manufacture, in thousands of gallons 1911. 1912. 1913. 1914. 1915. 1916. 1917. 1918. 1919. 1920. 1921. 1922. 1923. Year methods of (+) (c) 4 64, 738 (B) 1,917 2,931 1,412 |