An extensive shifting of oil-trade channels appears to be in the making as a result of war developments abroad anā the action of the United States Government recently in prohibiting the export of oil from this country unless a licence first has been acquired from the administrator of export control. Since the beginning of the European war, oil exports from this country have been declining steadily and, with the application of the licensing' system, the trade is of the opinion that they will decline almost of the vanishing point, states J. H. Carmical in the "New York Times."
With a large number of tankers now idle because the markets on the European Continent have been closed by the British blockade, and with a large surplus in nearly every oil producing country, including the United States, countries outside of Europe are not expected to have any difficulty in obtaining their requirements.
Before the United States Government ordered two American tankers at Gulf Coast ports to unload fuel oil consigned to Spain, both Spain and Japan were negotiating for large supplies of Mexican oil to be delivered over a period of years.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.