The petroleum resources of Russia (including Asiatic Russia) are believed sufficient to assure that country retaining its position as the leading producer of petroleum in the Eastern Hemisphere far beyond the next decade. During the last few years the output has been obtained under increasing difficulties, and as a consequence there has been no measure either of present productive capacity or of potentialities. Concerning the future of Russia as a source of petroleum Arnold[3] says: “Such large areas, both in European and Asiatic Russia, yield unmistakable evidence of the presence of oil in large quantities that it is to this country, among those of Europe and Asia, to which the future must look for a supply.”
[3] Arnold, Ralph: “The World’s Oil Supply”: Report Am. Min. Cong., 19th annual session, 1917, pp. 485-486.
Russia being endowed with petroleum reserves, both proved and prospective, of great magnitude, the ultimate position of that country as the leading oil-producer of the world seems reasonably assured. Its immediate future is too intimately dependent on the progress from political turmoil to warrant a forecast.
The oil fields of both Roumania and Galicia are believed to have passed their maximum yield, and the possibilities of opening new fields of consequence in those countries are not considered large enough to justify a forecast of anything but a moderate decline of production in future years. No material change in the status of the negligible oil fields of Italy or of Alsace is anticipated at any time in the future.
With regard to the situation in Asia, the writer believes that the next decade will witness a steady increase in the output of petroleum in India, and the probable development of one or more important oil fields in Persia and possibly of fields in Asia Minor, Turkestan and China. In Oceania the same period will doubtless witness a material increase in the production of petroleum in Japan and Formosa and in the Dutch East Indies, together with the possible opening of new fields in Papua. Africa will doubtless receive considerable attention from oil operators in the next ten years, but on the basis of available evidence the results obtained in that period will probably not be large enough to affect the petroleum situation of the world.
POLITICAL CONTROL OF PRODUCTION
The status of the political control of the world’s output of petroleum in 1917, as determined by the best data now available, is indicated in the [table] following.
The accompanying diagram ([Figure 1]) shows the proportion of the world’s production of petroleum contributed annually by each of the principal producing countries in each of the last ten years.
Table 2.—Political Control of the World’s Production of Petroleum in 1917
| Source of production | Quantity of production (barrels) | Percentage of total | Country exercising political control |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 335,315,601 | 66.17 | United States |
| Russia | 69,000,000 | 13.62 | Russia |
| Mexico | 55,292,770 | 10.91 | Mexico |
| Dutch East Indies | 12,928,955 | 2.55 | Holland |
| India | 8,078,843 | 1.59 | Great Britain |
| Persia | 6,856,063 | 1.36 | Persia |
| Galicia | 5,965,447 | 1.18 | Poland (?) |
| Japan and Formosa | 2,898,654 | 0.57 | Japan |
| Roumania | 2,681,870 | 0.55 | Roumania |
| Peru | 2,533,417 | 0.50 | Peru |
| Trinidad | 1,599,455 | 0.32 | Great Britain |
| Argentina | 1,144,737 | 0.23 | Argentina |
| Egypt | 1,008,750 | 0.20 | Great Britain |
| Germany | 995,764 | 0.20 | Germany |
| Canada | 205,332 | 0.04 | Great Britain |
| Venezuela | 127,743 | 0.03 | Venezuela |
| Italy | 50,334 | 0.01 | Italy |
| Cuba | 19,167 | ... | Cuba |
| 506,702,902 | 100.00 |