3628.     ---------------.  [WEIL, B. H.]  Economic Factors to Determine Fuels of the Future.  World Petrol., vol. 16, No. 2, 1945, p. 49.

        At present rates of production, United States known reserves of petroleum would last 14 yr., coal 3,000, and natural gas 30.  Synthesis of gasoline is at present uneconomic, but fundamental research should be carried on in case of future emergencies.  Processes discussed are the Fischer-Tropsch pyrolysis of oil shale and oil sands, carbonization and hydrogenation of coal, of which the first seems the most attractive.  No future shortage of gaseous fuels is expected.  Gasolines of 85-90 octane no. will be produced, and car design will undergo relative improvement.  Diesel fuels are becoming more important, but it is difficult to predict the future of heavy fuel oil and natural gas.