But this group, expanding rapidly when war broke out, found itself opposed from that moment by another organization, the _Royal Dutch-Shell_, which was also advancing by giant strides and which concentrated all its power throughout the world against that of the _Standard Oil_.
The most skilful part of the policy of the _Royal Dutch_ was to _establish itself wherever there was any oil_, while the _Standard_ confined itself almost exclusively to America. This was a great mistake. To dominate the production and sale in America was defensible as a commercial policy so long as the United States were the greatest producers of oil. It became an error from the day on which important oil deposits were discovered in other parts of the world.
The _Standard_ still has the preponderance in the United States, where the _Shell_ only appeared in 1900, but it is far from controlling 86 per cent. of the output, as it did at the height of its power in 1911. It has been much too negligent about extra-American oil deposits.
In 1890 a representative of the _Standard Oil_ was in Java, studying the oil situation in the Far East. He urged the _Standard_ to establish itself there before any competitor appeared. Hypnotized by the American market, it refused.
In a similar way it came into Rumania too late, and controls only 10 per cent. of the total output, while the _Royal Dutch_ controls 31 per cent. In Mexico the _Standard_ also met with the competition of the _Royal Dutch_, which, in combination with British interests, takes 40 per cent. of the production. In Russia its rôle is insignificant.
This state of affairs has been brought about by the errors of judgment of the directors of the Trust. _The power of the_ Standard Oil _has diminished_, and it no longer exercises a really effective control except within the United States. Even this control the _Royal Dutch_ is striving to filch from it. The latter has just formed a new trust, uniting the companies hitherto independent: the Doheny group and the British Pearson syndicate, the _Associated Oil_, the _Oklahoma Producing_ and the _Oil Union of Oklahoma_, with six or eight other undertakings which have been successfully conducted during the last few years. The _Shell_ is trying to bring in the _Mexican Petroleum Company of Delaware_,[12] a sister company to the _Eagle_ and the greatest producer in Mexico, which has up to now remained faithful to the _Standard Oil_. That is why it bought up large quantities of _Mexican Petroleum_ stock in May 1919 on the New York Exchange. If it succeeds the _Standard_ will see its remaining share in Mexico yet further diminished.