Data not available. Interstate Commerce Commission. Estimated by U. S. Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation. • Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce. /Navy Department. U. S. Geological Survey. ▲ American Gas Association. Revised figures. i Bureau of the Census. The rapidly increasing number of motor vehicles and oil-burning vessels, as shown below, emphasizes the growth of the demand for liquid fuels for those purposes. Motor-vehicle registration in the United States, 1910 and 1915–1923 • Partial total due to classification, by some States, of trucks and commercial cars with other motor vehicles. 4 Separate figures not available. World oil-burning vessels of 500 gross tons and over, June 30, 1914, 1920–1923 • [Exclusive of Army, Navy, Admiralty, and other Government vessels] • American documented seagoing merchant vessels, Dept. Commerce Bur. Navigation. COMPARATIVE FUEL VALUE OF COAL, PETROLEUM, AND NATURAL GAS The comparison of the fuel value of the coal, petroleum, and natural gas produced in the United States, as shown in the following table and in Figure 20, is based on revised estimates of the energy equivalents of the output of coal of all kinds, of petroleum, and of natural gas reported in Mineral Resources of the United States. These estimates have been made by F. G. Tryon for coal and for the coal equivalent of natural gas consumed for the years 1882-1905 and by the writer for natural gas for the years 1906-1923 and for petroleum. FIGURE 20.-Energy equivalent of coal, petroleum, and natural gas, 1882-1923 The conversion factors used in compiling the table assume that the weighted average thermal value per short ton of all bituminous coal produced in the United States equals 26,200,000 British thermal units; per short ton of Pennsylvania anthracite, 27,200,000 British thermal units; per barrel of petroleum, 6,000,000 British thermal units; and per cubic foot of natural gas, 1,075 British thermal units. The table and diagram emphasize the dominating position of coal and the increasing importance in recent years of the hydrocarbons. Of the total energy supplied by mineral fuels in 1923, coal yielded 76 per cent, petroleum 19 per cent, and natural gas 5 per cent, whereas in 1913 coal yielded 88 per cent of the total, petroleum 9 per cent, and gas 3 per cent. The fluctuating coal curve and the relatively smooth curves for petroleum and natural gas reflect the differences attending the production of these commodities. The fluctuations in the production of coal are in general accord with the major fluctuations in business activity, in which periods of prosperity, depression, and revival follow one another, modified by the effects of strikes and wage agreements. The production of petroleum, on the other hand, has been practically independent of general business conditions, and its output has not only kept pace with the rapidly growing demand for petroleum products, especially since the introduction of the internalcombustion engine, but at times, as during 1923, the new supply has been considerably in excess of the demand. A noteworthy feature of the coal curve is the change in rate of output of coal in pre-war and postwar years. For many years prior to 1918 the growth was fairly uniform, but since 1918 the rate of change in production has been considerably less. Since the war the rate of coal production has slowed down, and in no year since 1918 has the output of coal reached the record attained in that year. The production of petroleum, on the other hand, has with minor exceptions constantly increased, and the output in 1923 was more than double that of 1918. Competition between coal and oil in the last few years, especially during the period of oversupply of oil, has been accelerated by the low price of crude petroleum and its products. The only available data showing details of consumption of oil, both crude and refined, for fuel are those given in the tables on pages 407 and 408 and in volumes 8 and 11 of the Fourteenth Census, published in 1922 and 1923, showing the consumption by certain industries in 1919. A rough indication of the total quantity of crude petroleum consumed for fuel in the United States, however, is afforded by the difference between the total domestic consumption of crude petroleum, indicated by production plus imports minus exports plus stocks, including crude oil at refineries, at the beginning of the period minus stocks at the end of the period, and the quantity of crude oil run to refinery stills, although this difference includes also the unmeasured item of losses between the wells and the points of consumption. An estimate of the crude petroleum and gas and fuel oils used for fuel during the years 1918 to 1923, together with the indicated equivalent of coal displaced, determined on a basis of thermal units, is given in the following table: Indicated domestic consumption of crude petroleum and gas and fuel oils for fuel Coal, petroleum, and natural gas produced in the United States, from the date of earliest record to 1923 Energy equivalent of natural gas for years 1882-1905 based on estimated quantity of coal displaced, calculated by F. G. Tryon. Not available. PRICES The figures given in the following table for the States east of California were compiled from reports to the Geological Survey of actual purchases by purchasing companies and include premiums. The figures for California were obtained from the California State Mining Bureau. In 1923 the average price, by States, ranged from 69 cents a barrel in Arkansas to $3.33 in Pennsylvania. The general price trend was downward, and in December prices reached a low ebb. For most grades prices fell to as low a level in 1923 as they did in 1921, during the period of postwar deflation. In the first few months of the year, elsewhere than in California, there was an upward movement in prices apparently influenced by the temporary slackening in the rate of increasing supply (fig. 19); but with the rapidly rising production and the growing accumu 97860-26-27 lation of stocks prices began to fall. In California there was not even a temporary rise. The price of heavy crude, below 20° (0.934) remained at 60 cents a barrel throughout the year, but there were a number of drops in the price of light oil-for instance, the price of 35° and lighter oil, which on January 1, 1923, was $1.95 a barrel, was reduced three times during the year and on October 9 was 76 cents. As illustrative of these changes during 1923, the variations in posted prices of Pennsylvania and Mid-Continent grades may be noted. The year began with the posted price of $3.25 a barrel for Pennsylvania grade crude petroleum. During January there were three successive increases of 10 cents a barrel. On February 1 the Joseph Seep Purchasing Agency of the South Penn Oil Co. posted two sets of prices for Pennsylvania grade crude petroleum, Pennsylvania grade oil in the New York Transit Co.'s lines and Bradford district oil in the National Transit Co.'s lines bringing a higher price than Pennsylvania grade oil from the rest of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia, the difference for the greater part of the year being 25 cents a barrel. During February there were three advances in price, bringing oil from the Bradford district up to $4.25 a barrel and other Pennsylvania grade crude to $4. These prices held until April 11, when the price was reduced 25 cents a barrel, after which there were six successive reductions until on November 13 the prices were respectively $2.60 and $2.35 a barrel. In December prices rose three times, and the year closed with prices of $3.25 and $3 a barrel. The posted price of Oklahoma-Kansas and north Texas crude oil, ranging between 33° and 34.9°, at the beginning of the year was $1.25 a barrel. There were six successive increases in price of 10 cents each, to February 17. On April 23 the price was reduced to $1.75. There were three more drops in price of 10 cents a barrel each to May 12. On September 19 oil between 33° and 39.9° was reduced to $1.30 a barrel, and on November 8 to $1, a level as low as that reached in the summer of 1921, where it remained for the rest of the year. Average price per barrel paid for crude petroleum at the wells, 1922-1923, by States [Based on actual purchases, including premiums] |