1948 - Energy

Energy

A U.S. energy crisis in mid-January brings urgent requests for voluntary reductions in the use of gasoline, fuel oil, and natural gas. Long a net exporter of oil, the United States has become a net importer through the development of low-cost petroleum sources in Venezuela and the Middle East. Foreign crude oil will capture 18 percent of the U.S. market in the next 10 years, with most of it coming from Venezuela (see 1958).

U.S. railroads shift from coal-fired steam locomotives to diesel-electric locomotives in a move that will eliminate a major market for coal, leading to a 36 percent decline in coal mine output in the next 25 years and an increase in demand for oil (see 1924).