Two British oil companies, Shell and British Petroleum, will cease operations in Israel as a result of strong Arab pressure, the London Daily Telegraph reported from Beirut today.
Shell, the newspaper asserted, had already notified the Israel Government of its intent. Shell markets and distributes gasoline in Israel. With British Petroleum, it owns Consolidated Refineries which control the giant refinery at Haifa.
The newspaper’s correspondent said that the decision had been taken by the two companies without consulting the British Government and because of the “rising danger” to their own oil interests in the Arab states. He reported that much of the pressure on the companies came from Saudi Arabia. A spokesman for the Shell Company said in London that “no decision” had yet been taken to leave the Haifa refinery.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
