more than less) dependent upon our necessities being met by petroleum and its products, private enterprise has always kept us well supplied. But the Anglo-Persian Oil Company has made immense headway since the Government took an interest in its operations, and its appearance on the English market as a refiner of Persian crude oil and a distributor of the products thereof, is but a reflection of the prolific nature of the vast fields in Persia which it possesses. It has decided upon having its first English oil refinery near Swansea, and it is reported that this will be in operation before the end of 1920. It has also secured the control of the Scottish shale oil refineries which will be used for the treatment of Persian crude oil when occasion warrants. [Illustration: A FEW OF THE BURMAH COMPANY’S PROLIFIC PRODUCERS] One might go on to interminable length in briefly referring to the great concerns whose operations have been responsible for the expansion of the world’s petroleum industry to its present magnitude, but the exigencies of space prevent this. The brief list of companies already referred to represents an amalgamation of capital to the extent of nearly £120,000,000 sterling, though this cannot be considered as representing more than one-half the total world’s investments in petroleum enterprises. So far, I have not touched with the magnitude of the petroleum companies operating in the distributing oil trade of England, though, to some extent, this may be gathered from the references to such companies as the “Shell,” the Anglo-Mexican Petroleum Company, etc. Practically the first company of any magnitude to distribute petroleum products in this country was the Anglo-American Oil Co., Ltd., which has actively engaged in this branch of commerce for the past thirty years. It imported and dealt in American oils long before the advent of the companies before mentioned, and, to-day, is certainly one of the largest--if not the largest--company so engaged. Its name is known in every hamlet in the country: its tank cars are seen on every railway, and its depots are to be found in every centre throughout the length and breadth of the land. Its name is legion. Its capital is £3,000,000, and it is to the Anglo-American Oil Company that, throughout the clatter of European War, the credit is due for having supplied us with those almost unlimited quantities of petroleum products so necessary both on sea and land, for it is the largest importer in the Kingdom. As its name implies, the “Anglo” deals mostly in American petroleum products: it was at one time the importing concern of the Standard Oil Company, but to-day it purchases broadcast in an endeavour--and a very successful one, too--to supply the British consumer with all the petroleum products he requires.