German oil production in WW2

[Guest Mike]

This article is a great read - seems to sum it all up quite nicely, and even does a bit of moralising about oil in modern times at the end... German oil production in WW2

[Retributar]

Revealing article Stalin's Organist !.

[Blashy]

Sweet article, that is an old one but for the historical part, still holds of course.

Germany’s 1938 oil consumption of little more than 44 million barrels was considerably less than Great Britain’s 76 million barrels, Russia’s 183 million barrels, and the one billion barrels used by the United States

I would say that ALONE is indication why Germany never had a chance at victory (total domination of Europe). Oil usage = industry production.

[Liam]

I read a great portion of this article and I will say this much, oil was important, though in contrast so were many things. The Germans obviously didn't stockpile for the War properly, something they could've likely have done. They didn't defeat Great Britian or Russia to either 1 obtain free trade with the world by killing the Royal Navy or conquoring the Oil Rich Caucasus. Either way they dug their own grave in the regards of oil.

Ultimately, I wouldn't mind to see SC2 cut back the AP points of a nation that lacks a certian # of OilFields and perhaps Enhance it for those that do. Say per 10 Mobile Units add in a certian penalty and similarly for Airfleets and Naval Vessels.

It would be interesting, doesn't have to be Gigantic, but wouldn't it make obtaining Oil Fields a #1 Priority, rather than an MPP write off, which well, doesn't matter much, including in Industrial Tech perhaps a Modifier, that increases Oil Output, forcing Germany to split it's research... So she isn't just creating Tigers and Assualt Rifles, and forcing her to aim toward Red Oil?

[Lars]

Originally posted by Blashy:

I would say that ALONE is indication why Germany never had a chance at victory (total domination of Europe). Oil usage = industry production.

Er, no.

Electricity = Industrial Production.

While you could use oil, Germany had a heck of a lot of coal and hydro.

Oil is nice, because you can switch it around to several different uses, which you can't do with the others.

[Lars]

Originally posted by Stalin's Organist:

This article is a great read - seems to sum it all up quite nicely, and even does a bit of moralising about oil in modern times at the end... http://community.battlefront.com/uploads/emoticons/default_wink.png' alt=';)'> German oil production in WW2

Interesting article, but old. One quibble.

Just as Germany then and now was dependent on outside sources for its supply of liquid energy, so the United States today is forced to rely on foreign suppliers for approximately half its fuel needs.

We're not really forced to rely on foreign suppliers, we just have chosen to do so. It was cheaper at the time.

[SeaMonkey]

Lars, one correction, not..it was...it is.

[Lars]

Was.

It is now cheaper at $75 a barrel to look at coal gasification, but there's no guarentee the price won't go back down to $10, which was what killed it last time.

[SeaMonkey]

Ok, I'll let the markets decide. If coal gasification and the subsequent infrastructure to distribute and convert to its use arises, then you are right.

If not? Case closed.

[Liam]

Originally posted by SeaMonkey:

Ok, I'll let the markets decide. If coal gasification and the subsequent infrastructure to distribute and convert to its use arises, then you are right.

If not? Case closed.

Are you kidding, Coal? People will be using several alternatives before that dirty method. Perhaps for Diesel Truck and sea transportation.

We want such clean air we are going to use the finest that we can purchase, these high quality engines that are made these days require higher and higher quality gas. Lower and Lower emmissions. Not just for the Ozone we're uncertian may be tearing a hole folks, but also for the fact of pure Pollution on our Roads and in our cities.

What will come of the future, Electric fuel Cells that are actually fast enough to use... I think that is the most popular, that and a percentage of gas.

We do have so me untapped oil, I think what the USA is saving it for is a Rainy day when **** really hits the fan. Then we'll pump it out, such as a Major World Crisis. When we're paying 15 bucks a gallon, screw Alaskan Wildlife? Plus, who honestly believes that alternative energy will be cheaper, we use fossil fuels because it's relatively cheap that's why no alternative has been researched.

As far as Germany and Electricity.. She had lots of coal. During WW2 the first real mechanized war, oil was a factor. I hear especially Pilots, not enough training. I suppose that had to be higher quality? There were enough planes and pilots to train but not enough fuel. I think that there is a wrong idea about the Wermacht requiring lots of fuel. They didn't have as many tanks, ships, trucks, etc... as we had, so they didn't require as much fuel. They were always short in #s, numerical inferior but quality wise... Germany was a Nation of what 60 Million, with the annexations 90? It was no Major Power relative to the USSR or USA...Plus it didn't have time to consolidate it's early gains from '39-'40...had it done that instead of Declaring War on the Soviets perhaps hsitory would be re-written. Later in the War they had virtually nothing when they needed it I do know this as during the Battle of the Bulge the plan hinged on stealing American Fuel. But they had no Ploesti either and likely all their factories bombed to hell.

[Blashy]

Lars I meant oil use is a good indication of overall industrial power.

More oil use means more trains, cars, heating, mechanical vehicls for labour (trucks, cranes) and so on.

If USA was using 1 billion barrels, it is because its overall industry was in high gear.

That is what I meant.

[Lars]

Heh, read this. It'll sound eerily familiar.

http://www.searchanddiscovery.com/documents/halbouty02/index.htm

Oil is not used so much in industrial production. I've never seen a oil driven lathe, vertical mill, or gang drill. In fact, I can't think of any industrial equipment that's oil driven. The electrical plant running it might be, but the machinery isn't.

Oil is used on what comes out of the factories. If you made it to use oil, of course. Most rail engines of the time were coal fired, for instance. Ships, only if you needed a high rate of speed. Still had a few commercial sailing ships in the forties. Airplanes, not much you can do there, but they really don't use that much in the big scheme of things.

The US basically was using a lot of oil because it had a lot of oil. Go check the mileage on a '36 Ford.

So while you have a point Blashy, given what you can do with all that production, it's not necessarily tied to oil production.

[TaoJah]

Here are the numbers for oil usage in the US, in 2001.

44% fueling cars

25% fueling trucks, heating and making chemicals

8% fueling planes

5% power factories, power energy plants and fueling ships

3% make asfalt roads

15% others

Some other stats...

Oil cosumpion per person.

#1 United States 8.35 TOE per person

#2 Canada 8.16 TOE per person

#3 Finland 6.4 TOE per person

#4 Belgium 5.78 TOE per person

#5 Australia 5.71 TOE per person

#6 Norway 5.7 TOE per person

#7 Sweden 5.7 TOE per person

#8 New Zealand 4.86 TOE per person

#9 Netherlands 4.76 TOE per person

#10 France 4.25 TOE per person

(being from Belgium myself, I want to defend my little country by pointing out that these numbers include oil that is imported, used in checmicals and then exported again, which is a major part of the chemical indutry in Antwerp, the second-biggest port inthe world)

Oil-importers per person.

#1 Israel 43.4921 barrels per day per 1,00

#2 Japan 41.5957 barrels per day per 1,00

#3 Greece 37.2148 barrels per day per 1,00

#4 Spain 37.183 barrels per day per 1,00

#5 Guatemala 35.5419 barrels per day per 1,00

#6 United States 35.1667 barrels per day per 1,00

#7 Germany 31.5415 barrels per day per 1,00

#8 France 30.4999 barrels per day per 1,00

#9 Italy 29.0863 barrels per day per 1,00

#10 Panama 18.1529 barrels per day per 1,00