miles away. Eighty per cent of the crude oil is refined in
the Pittsburgh area, $330,000,000 is invested in property,
and 15.000 men are employed in the local field.”
It is estimated, according to a recent article in the Oil
and Gas Journal, that 200,000 homes, including apartment
houses and other buildings used for housing, such as hos-
pitals, burned oil for heat last winter, and that in the coming
winter probably 250,000 houses will be burning oil. This
circumstance is not of great importance in Pittsburgh and
surrounding territory, where natural gas is largely used for
fuel, but to the petroleum industry this use of oil is of great
importance. Figuring 3,000 gallons as the average quantity
of oil used by these homes over the winter, the next season’s
requirements will total some 750,000,000 gallons. Present
tank installation with oil burning equipment is recognized
as being, on the average, too small. For private dwellings
the average tank is probably no more than 150 gallons
capacity, while some of the larger homes have tanks of
500 to 1000 gallons capacity. These larger receptacles city
dwellings would find it difficult to obtain space for, while
in suburbs thev could be easily installed.
The advantages of natural gas are enjoyed by the people
of 23 States, but its use on a large scale is limited to
only 10, namely: Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Okla-
homa, Texas, California, Louisiana, Kentucky, Arkansas
and Wyoming. Out of a total of more than 3,000,000 con-
sumers of natural gas, more than 1,500,000 live in two States
—Pennsylvania and Ohio. The consumption of natural gas
is the largest in our own State, while Ohio has the largest
aumber of consumers. The United States Geological Survey
says that Pennsylvania consumes 130,733,000,000 cubic feet
of natural gas in a year, while Ohio consumes 116,127,000,-
000 cubic feet. The number of consumers in our State is
approximately 550,000, but much gas is used in industrial
and manufacturing plants. Ohio has almost 1,000,000
natural gas consumers. Our own State produces 101,276,-
000,000 cubic feet of natural gas a year, and Ohio produces
51,481,000,000 cubic feet. West Virginia is the State which
produces the largest quantity of gas, its annual output
