WILL NOT INTERFERE

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 254, 17 January 1928, Page 9

WILL NOT INTERFERE

HOOVER AND OIL DISPUTE PURCHASE FROM RUSSIA By Cable.—Press Association. — Copyright. Reed. 9.33 a.m. WASHINGTON, Mon. Mr. H. C. Hoover, Secretary of Commerce, declared that the Commerce Department does not Intend to interfere in the reported dispute between the Standard Oil Company and the Royal Dutch and Shell Companies. The officials of the Standard Oil Company of New York have replied to the criticism levelled against them by Sir Henri Deterding, of the Royal 1 Dutch Petroleum Company, concerning the purchase of Russian oil products to supply the company’s markets in the Neaf East. TERMS OF REPLY The reply sets forth the following statements:—That neither the American nor British Governments forbid trade with the Soviet. That the long distance between the United States and India made the purchase of Russian oil for the Indian markets more economical. That subsidiary companies of the Royal Dutch and Shell Transport Companies, as late as 1925, purchased a considerable quantity of Russian oil. That the importation of Russian oil constitutes no menace to the Indian or Burma oil industry. That the price-cutting and secret rebates instituted by the Royal Dutch and Shell Companies in India will cost those companies and the Burma oil companies approximately £2,550,000, and the Standard Oil Company of New York approximately £BOO,OOO, but the latter will not be swerved from its policy “by such desperate and destructive measures as are being followed in India and threatened in other parts of the world.” —A. and N.Z.

It was reported in July that Sir Henri Deterding, director-general of the Ro3*al Dutch Petroleum Company, and director of the Shell 'Transport and Trading Company, Limited, had issued a statement attacking the policy of the Standard Oil Company of New York and the Vacuum Oil Company, which have contracts under which they purchase oil from Russia. The Standard Oil Company of New Jersey announced that it would not deal with the Soviet, and that in conjunction with the Royal Dutch Petroleum Company and the Shell Company it had agreed to a joint policy of not dealing with Russia until the owners of the oilfields in Russia were compensated. Sir Henri said the purchase of Russian oil by American companies was not only contrary to the best interests of humanity and of trade honesty, btft that the Russian oil was bound to replace American oil. of which there was then a large overproduction.