20.      ---------------.  [ALDEN, R. C., AND CLARK, A.]  Liquid Fuels From Natural Gas.  Trans. Am. Soc. Mech. Eng. Paper 48-FET-13, 1948, 13 pp.; Oil Gas Jour., vol. 47, No. 24, 1948, p. 111.

                Abstract of paper presented at American Society of Mechanical Engineers meeting, Amarillo, Texas.  American research and development of the Fischer-Tropsch process have resulted in great improvements, which make the gas-synthesis operation appear in a favorable light as an economic source of liquid fuels.  Plant investment is about $3,000-$4,000 per bbl. per day.  Steel requirement is about 6 tons per bbl. per day for a capacity of 650,000 bbl. per day.  A corresponding production of synthetic liquid fuels from coal would require about 2 times as much investment and nearly 2 times as much steel.  Coal required would equal 28% of the 1945 production.  Natural-gas reserves have been increasing at a faster rate than the marketed production of natural gas, which has been doubling every 11 yr.  A producible natural-gas reserve of 0.5 trillion cu. ft. is required to sustain 7,000-bbl.-per-day gas-synthesis operation for 20 yr.  In only 10 States are there known gas reserves of over 1 trillion cu. ft., and only about 50 out of 426 gas-producing fields have reserves greater than 0.5 trillion cu. ft.  A substantial gas-synthesis development must depend on new gas discoveries.