The _Anglo-Persian Oil_ is no longer sufficient for Great Britain, which founded a new company in 1918, the _British Controlled Oil-fields_, specially commissioned to fight the _Standard Oil_. Established under Canadian law with an initial capital of £12,000,000, increased later to £40,000,000, and capable of a further increase up to £159,000,000, the _British Controlled Oil-fields_ will be one of the greatest financial powers of the world. Like the _Anglo-Persian_, it is entirely in the hands of the British Government under the system of the voting trust. It seems that an immense tract of oil-bearing territory exists from Mexico to the Argentine, a continuation of that of the United States. Already Mexico has become the second greatest producing State in the world; and oil has been found in almost all the South American States, even in Brazil and on the plateaux of Bolivia. Of these immense deposits the _British Controlled Oil-fields_ wishes to gain possession on behalf of the British Government, thus completing the work of the _Royal Dutch-Shell_ in Venezuela and in the neighbourhood of the Panama Canal. It possesses properties of very great value from Mexico to Brazil, in Trinidad, Venezuela and Costa Rica. In 1920 it began operations in Ecuador, and it is at present prospecting in Brazil, in the State of Bahia, where bituminous seepages and traces of asphalt abound. Its concessions actually surround two-thirds of the Caribbean Sea: they are situated in the States of Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, British Guiana, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador, and the island of Trinidad. The concessions of the _British Controlled Oil-fields_ are nearly always on the sea coast--or rather in close proximity to the sea--which is a considerable advantage. It has expressly chosen them, on both the Atlantic and the Pacific, as a precaution _in case war should break out between Britain and the United States_; for, even with the help of the Japanese fleet, the British Navy might not be able to seize the Panama Canal. And its units must be in a position to replenish their stores of fuel without being obliged to make a long detour round the Magellan Straits.