WW2 Defence

WORLD WAR II: PETROLEUM FOR DEFENSE The United States started to recover from the economic depression by the mid-1930s. The onset of World War II in 1939 accelerated the pace of economic recovery. Compared with World War I, World War II used more mechanized equipment, airplanes, automotive equipment, and ships, all of which required huge amounts of petroleum. The industry easily met the United States' and allies' demands for petroleum. However, as World War II progressed, the U.S. and British governments feared an eventual shortage of crude oil. In 1943 the U.S. government even proposed buying from Chevron and Texaco the petroleum company that became Saudi Aramco, now the world's largest oil producing company. During and after World War II, huge capital investments were made to further develop the enormous reserves found in the Persian Gulf area. Chevron, joined later by Texaco, and still later by Exxon and Mobil, owned the Arabian-American Oil Company or Aramco, which developed the giant Saudi Arabian oil fields and downstream infrastructure. Today the company is owned by Saudi Arabia and has been renamed Saudi Aramco. Other companies explored, developed, and produced oil in other countries, but in the first half of the twentieth century, the United States Chapter 1 ~ An Introduction to the Petroleum Industry 14 typically produced and consumed from 50 percent to 75 percent of the world's annual oil production. AFTER WORLD WAR II: GROWTH OF THE NATURAL GAS AND PETROCHEMICAL INDUSTRIES At the end of World War II, two events contributed to the tremendous growth in the natural gas industry. Natural gas had previously been discovered in large quantities in Texas, Louisiana, and other southwestern states; however, it was difficult to transport the gas long distances. This problem was alleviated by the development of a new technique for welding large pipe joints; gas under high pressure thus became transportable to the heavily populated midwestern and eastern regions of the country. Also, after World War II, the country witnessed the birth of the petrochemical industry, which used natural gas liquids for some of its basic raw materials.