Liquid fuel supplies

This paper presents an overview of United States and world petroleum, natural gas, and natural gas liquids presumed recoverable but as-yet undiscovered resources and suggests that the depletion of these fuels may not occur as quickly as frequently predicted. the paper points out that the construction of a synthetic fuels industry will be very costly and will provide only a small amount of increased energy independence. the fear is expressed that haste in accepting a specific synfuels process on the basis of present technology may serve to forestall the development of a better technology in order to gain better understandings of the various technologies, more information on costs and the essential but as yet unknown information on environmental and socioeconomic effects of large scale plants.