ASIA Development of the Iran (Persian) fields by British interests which began back in World War times and which was then pressed by Great Britain for strategic reasons, has assumed major proportions. From a production of 1 o,000,000bbl. in 1919, Iran has increased its annual output to over 77,000,000bbl. and in 1938 was the fourth ranking oil-producing country. Iraq (Mesopo tamia), developed for oil jointly by British, Dutch, French, and American interests, first came into commercial production in 1927 and was in eighth place in 1938 with a production of over 32,000, 000 barrels. Bahrein Island, in the Persian Gulf, has come promi nently into the picture through development by the Standard Oil Company of California and within four years reached an annual production of nearly 9,00o,000bbl. in 1938.
Important additions to production have been made in Sarawak and Brunei, which had an output of over 8,000,000bbl. in 1938 compared with 5oo,000bbl. in 1919. India has succeeded in main taining an annual production of over 8,000,000bbl. for 24 years. In the Netherlands East Indies production was over 57,00o,000bbl. in 1938 compared with less than 13,0oo,000bbl. in 1919.
These are highly significant developments in their relation to an oil-dependent Europe, for they signify a new alignment of oil production distribution which doubtless will become more pro nounced because of the tremendous potentialities of some of these fields. They indicate increasingly large production sources geo graphically much closer in some instances to Europe than the Americas.
In Europe, Rumania has succeeded in increasing annual produc tion eightfold since 1919, with an output of over 48,000,000bbl. in 1938; but this represents a decline from 64,000,coobbl. in 1936. Poland has been much less successful, its production of 3,763,000 bbl. in 1938 comparing with 6,000,000bbl. in 1919. Soviet Russia broke all previous production records in 1938 with a total output of over 2oo,0oo,000bbl., compared with 31,000,000 in 1919, and almost double its production of 1931. The gains in production by Rumania and Russia do not relieve Europe's outside dependency as much as might seem to be the case, for while both countries The principal oil producing areas in the United States, in order of their importance, are the Mid-Continent, California, Gulf Coast, Eastern, and Rocky Mountain. The Mid-Continent area in
cludes the great Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas, northern Louisiana, and northern Texas fields. California covers the great fields in that State. The Gulf Coast comprises producing areas in south ern Texas and southern Louisiana. The Eastern division includes the old fields of Pennsylvania where the petroleum industry was born in 1859, as well as other old, and some highly important new fields in the eastern section of the country. The Rocky Mountain division comprises mainly the production in Wyoming and some additional fields in Montana and Colorado. Altogether 2 2 States have commercial production.
In considering the production relationship of the existing areas and States it is necessary to bear in mind that in some States pro ration, or restriction of production, is being rigorously enforced, while in others the same situation does not wholly apply. Gener ally speaking, production in the United States was held down dur ing 1938 because of unfavourable economic conditions, but this did not preclude the continued opening of important new oil pro ducing fields which has characterized American oil development since inception. While the older big fields like East Texas, Okla homa City, Rodessa, Santa Fe Springs, Midway-Sunset, Sem inole, and Kettleman Hills show declines, others such as the Torrance and Rosecrans fields in California, the K.M.A. field in Wichita county, Texas; the Schuler field in Union City, Arkansas; a host of pools in Illinois; new pools in the Louisiana coastal area, and new deep producing horizons in the North Louisiana section of the Mid-Continent, have come in to offset their loss and to keep in the forefront the problem of trying to hold actual production within the limits of petroleum demand.