An official of an Israeli oil company said this week that the country’s petroleum reserves put it in a better position than many other countries to weather a new round of “extortion” by the Arab oil-producing countries, Moshe Bitan, director general of Paz, Israel’s largest oil distribution company, said on a radio interview that Israel has managed to accumulate significant oil reserves that will last for some time, though at considerable expense.
But in the event of a new war in which the Arabs use oil as a weapon. Israel and other oil importing nations would be seriously threatened, he said. Bitan noted that 40 percent of Israel’s present oil consumption comes from the Abu Rodeis fields in Sinai. If Israel were to be deprived of that source in a new war. the situation would be grave, he said.
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.
