Pipe Lines
The Interstate Commerce Commission has recently made an investigation of the mileage of pipe line companies, for the transportation of petroleum, and the amount of capital invested by them, which is the first study of this subject that has ever been made. At the end of 1920 the mileage of the trunk lines was 26,286, and of the gathering lines 19,691, a total of 45,977. At the end of 1919, the corresponding figures were 27,797; 19,986; and 43,783. The total investment of these companies at the end of 1920 was $607,593,657, whereof $340,323,150 was in pipe lines. At the end of 1919 the total investment was $526,866,135, whereof $288,499,726 was in pipe lines. No similar figures for the end of 1916 are available. A reasonable conjecture would probably be a total investment of $400,000,000 at that time.
Tankage
At the end of August, 1921, the quantity of crude petroleum in storage in the United States was approximately 270,000,000 bbl., this being the largest amount since pre-war years. The storage capacity was then severely taxed, and about 300,000,000 bbl. may be considered to represent the aggregate capacity of the United States. About 60 per cent of the total capacity, or 180,000,000 bbl., is estimated to belong to the Stand- ard Oil group. The petroleum refineries of the United States at the end of 1920 had a capacity for handling about 700,000,000 bbl. of crude petroleum per annum, compared with 427,000,000 bbl. at the end of 1917.
At $200 per 1,000 bbl. the petroleum storage capacity in 1921 stood at about $60,000,000. Figures for 1916 are lacking. At a guess, I assume $50,000,000.
