Israel and the U.S. to Sign Accord on U.S. Oil Supply to Israel

Israel and the U.S. will sign “contingency implementing arrangements” at the White House tomorrow regarding U.S. assurances of supplying oil to Israel, the State Department announced today.

The signing by Secretary of State Edmund Muskie and Israeli Minister of Energy Yitzhak Modai will be witnessed by President Carter. It will culminate technical discussions between the two governments over the past year. The new agreement is with regard to the memorandum of agreement of June 22, 1979 between the U.S. and Israel which was directly related to the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty of March 26, 1979 and the Sinai II agreements of 1975.

Precise details of the new agreement were withheld by the State Department pending the signing. However, Department spokesman John Trattner said the U.S. commitment provides that it will make oil available for purchase by Israel in the event Israel is unable to secure enough oil on its own “through normal procedures” to meet its domestic requirements.

The 1979 memorandum of agreement specifies under what circumstances it could be activated. Is- rael’s obligation is to look for alternate sources of supply. The manner in which the U.S. government would make oil available, price and other factors such as transportation, are included in the new compact. The State Department was reluctant to discuss what measure will be used to determine if Israel needs oil from the U.S.

The Department said that the arrangements to be signed have a duration of five years and offer that in periods of three years until 1994, for a total of 14 years. “Either party con suspend the arrangements after each period but the memorandum of agreement will remain in effect until 1994,” the Department said. Should either party suspend it, if could be subject to renegotiation.

Trattner replied. “No, ” when asked if Israel is about to ask for U.S. oil. He said the arrangements were mode despite uncertainty over the world’s oil market because of the Iraqi-Iranian war. “We do not anticipate Israel will encounter serious difficulties in obtaining oil through normal procedures in the foreseeable future,” he said. Privately, State Department officials informed the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that Mexico and Egypt are Israel’s major suppliers.

The State Department said that the U.S. probably will find oil for Israel on the world market and, if necessary, the government has legislative authority to supply Israel with American oil. The Department would not say whether the American oil would come from government or private stocks.