SUPPLY: A New Oil Hunt at Home

With shortages of gasoline, heating fuel and other petroleum products gripping the nation, it is easy to overlook an important fact: the U.S. is still by far the world's largest oil producer. In 1972 U.S. wells pumped out 9.4 million bbl.

of crude per day v. the 7.8 million produced in the Soviet Union and the 6,000,000 that came from Saudi Arabia.

But this preeminence brings no comfort to U.S. oilmen. Not only did output fall far short of domestic consumption; it did not even match the 9.7 million bbl. per day that the nation produced at the peak in 1971....

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