UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT of the INTERIOR * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * news release
For Release to PM's, FEBRUARY 19, 1962
It is with greet pride that I have the privilege of addressing you today the Society of Petroleum Engineers of the A.I.M.E. This occasion is serving at wofold purpose for me; en opportunity to fraternize with many of my old friends and colleagues, end the honor of addressing en organization of which I am a card-carrying member. It is always a pleasure to meet with an engineering group because, in my opinion, there are more men of genius, pluck and determination to win, engaged in engineering then in any other profession.
The word "interdependence" has perhaps been too widely used recently, but whether we like it or not, the problems of oil are entwined with broader problems everywhere.
The petroleum industry of the Free World today is deeply influenced by two dominant sets of factors that give rise to severe stresses within the industry's structure and create major uncertainties as to the future direction of its development.
The first of these elements is the worldwide excess in the capacity to produce, to refine, and to transport oil. This progressive imbalance between world consumption of petroleum products and ability to produce is generating intensive, and sometimes disruptive, competition in oil marketing. It is creating instability in the entire world petroleum price structure.
The second cause of stress is far more complex. It is a reflection of the new trend in world affairs characterized by the fading of the colonial system end the emergence of a succession of new, inexperienced, end sometimes unstable political units. Radical changes are occurring in many areas where established social end economic patterns are being put aside or are under attack.
Some of the fundamental problems relating to petroleum are revealed by examination of the contrast between the location of the major consuming area send the location of the major oil reserves of the Free World. The consumption of oil, of course, is concentrated in the industrially developed areas such as the United States and Europe, whereas most known reserves are located in less developed areas such as the Middle East.
