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PRODUCTION OF PETROLEUM AND ROYALTIES UNDER FEDERAL CONTROL

The following tables have been compiled from data received by the Bureau of Mines and by the Office of Indian Affairs:

Crude petroleum produced on Government lands in 1922-1923, under the operation of the leasing act of February 25, 1920

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14, 233, 952. 202, 964, 524. 613, 250, 956. 81 29, 896, 479. 09 6, 616, 050. 88 10, 687, 166. 43

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14, 519, 778. 292, 996, 913. 373, 287, 227. 26 31, 627, 093. 25 6, 863, 068. 28 11, 052, 917.60

28, 202, 324. 63 5, 666, 742. 23 6, 524, 218. 12 48, 001, 417. 589, 948, 251. 65 13, 742, 066. 88

Royalty receipts from production of oil and gas and bonuses paid for sale of leases on Indian reservations, fiscal years ending June 30, 1922-1923

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SUMMARY OF REFINERY STATISTICS

Refinery statistics compiled and published by the Bureau of Mines are summarized below. Contrasted with an increase of 106 per cent in the production of crude petroleum during the period 1918-1923 are the following gains in the output of the chief products of petroleum refineries: Kerosene, 29 per cent; lubricants, 30 per cent; gas and fuel oil, 65 per cent; gasoline, 112 per cent.

In 1923 the output of gasoline from petroleum refineries was 31 per cent of the crude oil run to stills, as contrasted with 26 per cent in 1918 and 13 per cent in 1914; the output of gas and fuel oil dropped from 53 per cent of the quantity of crude oil run to stills in 1918 to 49 per cent in 1923. The increased rate of production of gasoline is due primarily to increased use of cracking methods and also to the increased use of natural-gas gasoline for blending at petroleum refineries.

Refinery statistics, 1918-1923.

[Thousands of barrels of 42 U. S. gallons except as otherwise indicated]

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• Compiled from Petroleum Refinery Statistics for 1923, Bureau of Mines.

Including shipments to Alaska, Hawaii, and Porto Rico.

No data available.

• October-December only.

SHALE OIL

Overproduction of petroleum and low prices have continued to retard commercial operations in oil shale. Nevertheless, 292,000 gallons of oil was reported to the Geological Survey as having been produced by distillation from shale at three plants in 1923-one at Elko, Nev., and two near Casmalia, Santa Barbara County, Calif. These three plants were also operated on a smaller scale in 1922. The operators of the plants in the vicinity of De Beque, Colo., from which 6,250 gallons was produced in 1921, have not since then reported any production.

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Details concerning the operations of these plants are not yet available for publication, although general conditions in California 15 and Nevada have been described. The shale oil produced in Nevada was extracted from typical oil shale-a shale which "does not contain oil that may be extracted by mechanical means but contains an abundance of partly bituminized organic matter that can be converted into

14 Gore, F. D., Oil shale in Santa Barbara County, Calif.: Am. Assoc. Petroleum Geologists Bull., vol. 8, pp. 459-472, 1924.

18 Winchester, D. E., Oil shale of the Rocky Mountain region: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 729, pp. 91-192, 1923. Kirkpatrick, S. K., Producing shale oil on a commercial basis: Chem. and Met. Eng., vol. 31, pp. 771-773, 1924

oil by heating."" The shale oil produced in California, on the other hand, was obtained from an oil-saturated diatomaceous shale from which oil may be extracted by solvents.

Progress in research and experimental work was continued during 1923 in the laboratories of the Bureau of Mines, cooperating with the States of Colorado and Utah, in the laboratories of several universities, corporations, and private individuals, and at a number of plants. The proceedings of the National Oil Shale Conference in connection with the American Mining Congress at Milwaukee in September, 1923, in which the current status of the industry was reviewed, are given in full in the Quarterly of the Colorado School of Mines for October, 1923.

Oil produced from shale by distillation in the United States, 1923

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World's production of oil shale, 1919–1923, in metric tons "

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There is in operation in Puertollano a plant for the treatment of oil shale and impure coal to obtain oil, but no details of production are available.

Data on production of oil shale not available; the following quantities of shale oil were extracted from alum shale: 1921, 328 metric tons; 1922, 353 tons; 1923, 158 tons.

• Estimated. Used in production of shale oil.

17 Winchester, D. E., op. cit., p. 8.

COKE AND BY-PRODUCTS

By F. G. TRYON and H. L. BENNIT

INTRODUCTION

METHOD OF PRESENTATION

Two reasons have prompted the publication in skeletonized form of the Geological Survey's report on coke and by-products in 1923. One has been the pressure of other work devolving upon the Survey unit that collects the statistics of coal and coke. For six months the entire energies of the statistician in charge have been devoted to editing the reports of the United States Coal Commission and seeing them through the press. Time has therefore been lacking to prepare the usual analytical text and market review of the industry. The other reason for omitting the analysis has been the great detail in which the report for 1922 was developed. By presenting the data for 1923 in the same tabular form, the explanations given for 1922 may be made to serve both years. The reader of this report who desires further light on the meaning of the tables will therefore do well to consult the corresponding passages of the report for 1922. To facilitate comparison of the two reports, the arrangement of matter adopted for 1922 has been closely adhered to. The tables have been grouped by subjects, as indicated by the center headings.

DEFINITIONS

The standard unit of measurement in the coke industry in the United States is the short or net ton of 2,000 pounds. Unless otherwise specified, this is the unit employed throughout this chapter.

In this report the term "coke" does not include breeze or the fine coke screenings, because operators in general, especially those in the beehive industry, do not regard this fine material as properly so classified. No effort has been made to define accurately the limitation as to size between coke and breeze. Each operator has followed his own regular practice in reporting his output of fine material to the Geological Survey. It is probably safe to say, however, that coke breeze and screenings correspond closely in size to the anthracite usually classified as steam sizes; in other words, they include the material smaller than pea coal.

For reasons explained in the following section, the statistics of by-product coke in this report cover the operations of all by-product coke ovens, including those installed and operated by public utilities engaged primarily in manufacturing gas for city supply.

The tables of the report classify the sales as between "furnace coke," "foundry coke," and "domestic and other coke." These terms are general trade designations referring to physical or chemical

1 U. S. Geol. Survey Mineral Resources, 1922, pt. 2, pp. 671-799, 1925.

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