Israel will achieve self-sufficiency in petroleum within ten years and be the first Western nation north of the Suez Canal to attain that goal, it was predicted here today by Dr. Walter Fehr, Swiss consulting geologist. Dr. Fehr has been acting as consultant since 1951 to Israel Oil Prospectors. Ltd. Lapidoth Israel Petroleum Co., Ltd., and the American joint ventures headed by Samuel Friedland and Max Orovitz, of Miami Beach. Dr. Fehr, who directed the development of Egypt’s Royal Dutch Shell holdings until 1948, told a press conference here that the Heletz-Negba area had an estimated reserve of 50 to 60 million barrels of oil.
The conference also heard Samuel Stein, of Jersey City, a member of the council of directors of Israel Oil Prospectors and one of the American joint venturers, estimate that another $5 million would be needed for further development of oil prospects, in addition to the $5 million and 5 million Israel pounds already invested in the area. He added that he foresaw no difficulty in obtaining that amount from present investors or banks.
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