Palestine. The first drilling for oil in Palestine, S.W. of the Dead Sea, was interrupted by the war. Prospecting had previously been active in the area between the river Jordan and Deraa, adjacent to the Hedjaz railway.
India. The principal source in India is the Yenangyaung field in Burma, about 272 m. N. of Rangoon on Yenangyaung creek. Other important districts are the Singu, Minbu, Pakokku and Upper Chind- win. The oil is in rocks of Miocene age and is about 30 Baume (0-8,750 sp.gr.). Deep drilling was a feature of the development in this field after 1914. Some wells come in with a large initial flow but fall off rapidly as the territory has been intensively developed. Coal- bearing rocks of Eocene age have yielded oil in small quantities in Assam and in the Punjab. India's production in 1920 was 7,500,- ooo bar.; 1919, 8,735,000; 1908, 5,047,038.
Japan and Formosa. Japan's principal oil production is found in the Echigo Province field. Since 1908 the most important develop- ment has been in Akita prefecture. The first gusher was drilled in this field in May 1914, flowing at the rate of 12,000 bar. daily. Many other large wells have been developed. The Akita gushers have declined rapidly. Oil is obtained from coarse sandstone layers, interstratified with sandy shale of Tertiary age. The oil is about 25 Baume (0-9,032 sp.gr.). A small production is also obtained in Formosa. Production of Japan and Formosa in 1920 was 2,139,- 777 bar.; in 1919, 2,175,000; and in 1908, 2,070,145.
China. A joint ^investigation of petroleum resources in the provinces of Shen-si and Chih-li was undertaken in 1914 by the Chinese Government and a private corporation. Drilling of six wells began in the Yen-chang field, Shen-si, where previously a number of primitive wells had been put down and a small produc- tion obtained. In 1916 the abandonment of the enterprise was announced. No oil in commercial quantity was struck.
OCEANIA AND THE EAST INDIES
Dutch East Indies. Production of petroleum in the Dutch East Indies has shown a steadily increasing tendency. Production is obtained in Sumatra, Borneo and Java. Most of the oil-bearing rocks are associated with beds of coal and lignite of Miocene age. Oil of the Langkat district of Sumatra has a gravity of 33 to 55" Baume (0-8,589 to 0-7,692 sp.gr.). Java oil is heavier, ranging be- tween 23 and 40 Baume (0-9,150 to 0-8,235 sp.gr.). Borneo oils from shallow wells have a gravity of about 14* Baume (0-9,722 sp. gr.), and from the deeper wells a gravity of from 27 to 33 Baume (0-8,917 to 0-8,589 sp.gr.). Production of the Dutch East Indies, including a small production from British Borneo, totalled 17,529,- 210 bar. in 1920; 15,428,000 in 1919; and 11,041,852 in 1908.
Papua. Test drilling has been undertaken in Papua, and, while oil has been struck, difficulty has been caused by mud clogging.
Philippine Islands. Prospecting and drilling work started in the Philippine Is. in 1920 in the Bondoc Peninsula district.
New Zealand and Australia. Extensive prospecting and drilling work have been done in New Zealand, especially in the vicinity of New Plymouth ; South Australia, in the Robe district, and in Queens- land, in the Roma district. Exploitation in these districts has failed to develop petroleum production in commercial quantity. New South Wales has developed an oil-shale production amounting in 1918 to 32,395 long tons.
Oil in the World War. Petroleum was a major essential in industrial, military and naval operations in connexion with the World War. Industrial plants required abnormally large quanti- ties of lubricating oils and fuel oils. There was a rapid expansion in oil-burning fleets, and a new demand on petroleum was made by air craft, by the introduction of petrol-burning motor launches, by tanks used in military operations, and by the creation of the motor transport, which became a chief factor of a mobile army. Petroleum was a contraband of war, and German submarine warfare was largely directed against petroleum tank steamers. Military operations in Galicia and also in Rumania were dictated to a considerable degree by the condition of petroleum supply in the Central Powers. Galicia changed hands several times during the war, and after Rumania's entrance into the war in Sept. 1916 the oil fields of that country fell into the hands of the Austro-German armies. Considerable damage to the Galician and Rumanian fields was caused by military operations, and the output of these countries was reduced during the war. Before the capture of the Rumanian fields a systematic destruction of wells, derricks and oil supplies had been undertaken by an Allied military mission, and the Germans immediately installed a military commandant with trained assistants to rehabilitate the fields. The operations of Turkey against Russia had the Baku oil fields as their objective, and the early British operations in Mesopotamia were chiefly intended as a precautionary measure for the protection of the Persian oil fields.
In all the warring countries special Governmental departments were organized to handle petroleum problems, and in almost every country drastic restriction of home consumption was enforced. In England the Mineral Oil Production Department had jurisdiction over all questions of production of oil from home sources. The Pool Board attended to the distribution of oil in the British Is., and the Petrol Control Department acted on mat- ters of petrol economy. The Petroleum Executive was formed in Aug. 1917 to handle matters of general policy. In France jurisdiction of petroleum matters was placed in the hands of a Commissioner-General of Petroleum, and a Petroleum Importing Consortium was created. During the last year of the war a Government commission for petroleum was formed in Italy, and throughout the war restrictions were placed on the importation and sale throughout that country. In Germany and Austria price and distribution were under control somewhat similar to that of food, and strict rationing was adopted. After the United States entered the war in 1917 a voluntary organization of the American industry was effected under the name of the National Petroleum War Service Committee, and in 1918 the Oil Division of the Government Fuel Administration was established. Restrictions on home consumption in the United States were confined en- tirely to voluntary methods. The Inter-Allied Petroleum Coun- cil, consisting of representatives of Great Britain, the United States, France and Italy, was formed in 1917. This Council arranged for the requirements of each of the Allies and for the transportation of the petroleum allotted.
America supplied 80% of the Allied petroleum requirements. The problem of transporting these great quantities was only secondary to the problem of production. Large additions were made to tanker fleets, principally of Great Britain and the United States, but as there was an inadequate supply of tankers early in the war, and as the German submarines sank many, this feature of the transportation problem was particularly serious. It became necessary to use the double bottoms of cargo vessels for transporting oil, and it is estimated that from 1917 to the close of the war 1,100,000 tons of fuel oil were so transported. The total quantity of fuel oil brought to British bases during the war exceeded 10,000,000 tons, of which 9,100,000 tons were issued to the British Admiralty. In addition American naval tankers imported 560,000 tons, which were distributed by small British craft to U.S. naval units along the British coast. The tanker- building programme, projected by the British Admiralty in the early stages of the war, resulted in the addition of 52 cargo tankers of 380,000 tons' capacity and 49 fleet auxiliaries of 95,000 tons' capacity. In 1918 there were 2,628,961 tons of fuel oil alone shipped from the eastern seaboard of the United States for the use of the Allied navies. In the same year more than 1,000,000 tons of distillates and other petroleum products also crossed the Atlantic, entailing more than 500 tank steamer loadings. The figures made public after the war showed that 48% of the British fleet was depending on oil for fuel. The maintenance of the blockade round the Central Powers involved the steady consumption of petroleum products. In the patrol around the British Is. the steaming of the fleet and other vessels averaged not less than 7,000,000 m. a month. At one time the situation as regards tank steamers was so serious that a single day's delay in any of the vessels caused considerable anxiety. In May 1917 stocks of oil were so low because of heavy shipping losses, due to submarines, that the fleet was unable to exercise properly and the army was frequently on a hand-to-mouth basis. At that date total stocks of oil in Great Britain amounted to only 900,000 tons, and the absolute minimum of safety was considered 1,500,000 tons. After 17 months stocks had been increased to 1,800,000 tons, and on cessation of hostilities the stock was considered satisfactory.
A campaign of intensive development in the petroleum fields, particularly of the United States and Mexico, brought about large increases in petroleum production, but requirements were so great that despite this increase stocks had to be drawn on heavily. At the close of the war American tankers afloat had increased 635,507 gross tons, and 51% of the total gross tonnage of tankers in
