The representatives of foreign oil companies operating in the Israel-occupied zones of Sinai are meeting with Israeli officials here in an attempt to find out what will become of their holdings should all of Sinai be returned to Egypt as proposed in Premier Menachem Begin’s peace plan.
The Neptune Co. and the Western Desert Co. have invested millions of dollars in oil drilling and prospecting in Sinai. Neptune recently brought in several new offshore wells in the Gulf of Suez which are estimated to contain four billion barrels of oil, sufficient to supply half of Israel’s present oil consumption. Western Desert is prospecting for oil in the Bardawil Lagoon region in northern Sinai.
Senior directors of the two firms have met with Energy Minister Itzhak Modai and Israel Liar, head of the government’s oil prospecting authority. Israel’s position is that it has no legal obligation toward the two companies if the areas where they operate are taken over by Egypt. The companies were aware, when they entered into their contracts with Israel, that they would be investing in a region with an uncertain political future. The oil executives acknowledge this but say they assessed Israel would undertake some form of moral obligation.
The Egyptians for their part, have no obligations to allow the companies to continue their activities in Sinai. Egypt, in fact, has contracts with other foreign oil firms which, presumably, might take over operations in all of Sinai should the peninsula revert to Egyptian rule.
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