NewfoundlandAnglo-Persian
New BrunswickAnglo-Persian
California Royal Dutch-Shell
OklahomaRoyal Dutch-Shell
Texas, LouisianaRoyal Dutch-Shell
MexicoRoyal Dutch-Shell (Mexican Eagle)
Central AmericaBritish Controlled Oil-fields
TrinidadRoyal Dutch-Shell
VenezuelaRoyal Dutch-Shell
Guiana British Controlled Oil-fields
BrazilBritish Controlled Oil-fields
ColombiaBritish Controlled Oil-fields
EcuadorBritish Controlled Oil-fields
ArgentineAnglo-Persian

Asia

CaucasusRoyal Dutch-Shell
Persia Anglo-Persian
Mesopotamia Turkish Petroleum
IndiaBurmah Oil
Dutch IndiesRoyal Dutch-Shell
Straits SettlementsRoyal Dutch-Shell
China Royal Dutch-Shell

Oceania

AustraliaAnglo-Persian
New ZealandAnglo-Persian
PapuaAnglo-Persian

Africa

EgyptRoyal Dutch-Shell
MadagascarRoyal Dutch-Shell
South Africa Royal Dutch-Shell
MoroccoAnglo-Persian

[CHAPTER XIV]

HOW THE UNITED STATES LOST SUPREMACY OVER OIL

The Americans themselves realize that they are about to lose their supremacy over oil. "While we were basking in a false security, lulled by the knowledge of our resources," the American Nation wrote recently, "foreign companies silently and energetically took possession of the unexploited oil-fields." The Mexican Eagle, a British company, received vast concessions in Mexico. The Shell, another British group, established itself in many places. The Royal Dutch, which, in appearance at least, was originally a Dutch company, was founded to exploit the oil of the East Indies. Later, a fusion of the Royal Dutch and the Shell took place, and the Mexican Eagle sheltered under the wings of the new company. The Anglo-Persian was created to exploit Persia and the East, and the British Government subscribed £2,000,000, reserving the control for itself in order to supply the needs of the navy.[27] This company was for years closely connected with the Royal Dutch.[28] This gigantic aggregation of British interests, at the present time, owns or controls a great part of the oil of California, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mexico, Trinidad, Venezuela, Colombia, Rumania, Russia, Persia, Egypt, India, and the East Indies. Except in North America, many of the concessions are so vast that they exclude American companies from the most profitable oil-fields. However, adds the Nation, the experts of the United States Geological Survey were making disturbing discoveries that 40 per cent. of American oil was exhausted, and that, at the present rate of production, the exploitation would be complete in fifteen or twenty years, for home requirements were becoming so great that more oil would have to be imported than was being exported. In 1920, the imports exceeded the exports by 100 million barrels. And British companies, closely connected with the British Government, are now in exclusive possession of 90 to 97 per cent. of the future world production. What a change in the situation!