2115.     LINZ, B. F.  Plans for Huge Synthetic Plants Fantastic.  Oil Gas Jour., vol. 46, No. 40, 1948, p. 38.

        B. K. Brown, in a recent appearance before a congressional subcommittee, declared that Government proposals for the initiation of a construction program to supply 2,000,000 bbl. of synthetic oil per day has no justification either from the standpoint of military security or the cost in money, men, and steel.  The costs have not yet been determined, but a study is expected to be made by fuel experts from industry and Government.  The coal industry would need to be revolutionized to produce the required 468,000,000 tons or more than 2/3 of our highest annual production; to provide 2,000,000 bbl. of oil per day.  To produce even 500,000 bbl. per day from natural gas would require the consumption of ½ the gas produced in 1946.  To erect the required plants to produce the proposed quantity of oil would require huge amounts of steel – 34 tons per ton of oil from shale per day, 49 tons from natural gas, and 70 tons from coal, not including the steel for the production of the raw material – whereas it takes only 26 tons to produce a ton of oil from petroleum at a new refinery in a new field.  Furthermore, it is known that gas or coal can be used more economically as such than converted into oil.  It is his conviction that more oil can be produced quicker by making steel available to the petroleum industry than by any other method and that the production of liquid fuels from crude petroleum should be given the preference.  He appears to be in favor of developing synthetic fuel production, but less painfully and more soundly over a period of years, rather than by forced development.