SUMMARIES OF TARIFF INFORMATION MINERAL SALTS OBTAINED BY EVAPORATION FROM MINERAL WATERS Tariff Status Par. 1718. Mineral salts obtained by evaporation from mineral waters, when accompanied by a duly authenticated certificate and satisfactory proof showing that they are in no way artificially prepared and are only the product of a designated mineral spring, which were free of duty under the Tariff Act of 1922, are free of duty also under the Tariff Act of 1930. Their duty-free status was bound in the trade agreement with Czechoslovakia effective from April 1938 to April 1939, and in the Geneva agreement, effective April 21, 1948. Trade Statistics Table 1.- Mineral salts obtained by evaporation from mineral waters: Source: 96,537 80,366 13,750 $73,854 $59,058 $13,710 48,860 34,381 13,903 40,347 26,221 13,792 36,812 33,976 26,081 25,493 970 440 934 715 Official statistics of the U. S. Department of Commerce. Note.- Statistics on United States production and exports are not available. Comment The mineral salts covered by this summary are products of the mineral water industry (see summary on mineral waters, par. 809). They are used medicinally and as bath salts. Statistics on United States production and exports of mineral salts are not available. United States imports in immediate prewar years ranged from 37,000 pounds, valued at $26,000, in 1939, to 97,000 pounds, valued at $74,000, in 1937. Since 1945 they have amounted to 16,000 pounds, valued at $13,000, in 1946, to 19,000 pounds, valued at $5,000, in 1947, and to 2,000 pounds, valued at $100, in 1948. The principal sources have been Italy and Czechoslovakia, except in 1948, when Canada was the sole supplier (see table 1). SUMMARIES OF TARIFF INFORMATION NATURAL GAS Tariff Status 217 27 Par. 1719. Natural gas (a crude mineral not advanced in value or condition), which was free of duty under the Tariff Act of 1922, is free of duty also under the Tariff Act of 1930. Its duty-free status was originally bound in the trade agreement with Canada, effective January 1939, and similar binding was thereafter included in the Geneva agreement. 1937 1938 1939 1943 Trade Statistics Table 1.- Natural gas: United States production, exports, and imports (total and by principal sources), in specified years, 1937 to 1948 Data are from Production represents production for sale only (see text). Source: Official statistics of the U. S. Department of Commerce, except as noted. 877032 O 50-15 UNITED STATES TARIFF COMMISSION NATURAL GAS (PAR. 1719) Comment Natural gas, an important commodity in the domestic economy of the United States, is of minor importance in international trade. In the United States it is obtained primarily from about 65,000 gas wells which produce dry gas, and secondarily from several hundred thousand oil walls which produce wet gas in conjunction with crude oil. The pattern of natural gas consumption in 1947 was as follows: Domestic consumers, 18 percent; commercial consumers, 7 percent; field use, 21 percent; carbon black manufacture, 11 percent; petroleum refineries, 8 percent; and industrial use, including public-utility power plants, 35 percent. United States production as reported in table 1 includes only production for sale. In addition, large quantities of gas are returned to the underground reservoirs in oil fields as a conservation measure, and even larger quantities are blown in the air, usually after being processed for the extraction of natural gasoline. United States sales of natural gas, which averaged 2.4 trillion cubic feet annually in 1937-39, were at least twice as large in 1948, and will probably continue to increase steadily for several years. Estimates of the reserves of natural gas have been increasing and amounted to 174 trillion cubic feet at the end of 1948. About 55 percent of the estimated reserves is located in Texas, 14 percent in Louisiana, 8 percent in Kansas, and 7 percent in Oklahoma. There is a large potential demand for natural gas in the northeastern part of the country, which is being satisfied gradually by the construction of large-capacity pipe lines from the producing fields in the southwestern states. In comparison with the very large volume of gas produced and consumed, exports are small and imports are insignificant. Almost all exports move from Texas and New Mexico producing fields into northern Mexico; a small quantity of mixed natural and manufactured gas goes from Buffalo across the Niagara River into Canada. 1/ In 1937-39, all imports originated in Alberta, Canada, and entered the United States in northern Montana. Recent discoveries of new gas fields in Alberta may possibly result in the importation of substantial volumes into Washington and Oregon within a few years. It has been proposed that a pipe line 30 inches in diameter and 1,400 miles long be built, running from northern Alberta west to Vancouver, B.C., and then south into the Pacific Northwest. It is estimated that the cost of such a line would be about 175 million dollars. However, the exportation of gas from Alberta is subject to approval by the provincial government. Exports reported by gas pipe-line companies to the Bureau of Mines are greater than those shown in table 1, as follows (in millions of cubic feet): 1943-11,210; 1946—17,675; 1947—18,149. |