A report that a vast oil field has been found near the Dead Sea created a sensation throughout Palestine today. The Hebrew daily, Doar Hayom, said that an English oil company, closely linked with the Standard Oil interests, had uncovered a hitherto unknown oil field on an acreage of 2,000,000 which had it been quietly assembling for more than a year. The paper further asserts that D. A. Sutherland, a well-known mining engineer, has been representing these English oil interests during a year of prospecting in the vicinity of the Dead Sea.
Inquiries at the government offices today by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency concerning the report in the Doar Hayom elicited an unequivocal denial. Government officials explained that the report appeared to be based on the granting of a prospecting permit to Mr. Sutherland. Such permits are available to any qualified engineer, it is understood.
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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.
