OIL SUPPLIES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 11 June 1941, Page 5

OIL SUPPLIES

REPORTED DIFFICULTIES OF AXIS SUPREME EFFORT EXPECTED IN MIDDLE EAST. TO GAIN FIELDS IN IRAK & IRAN. ißy Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, June 9. 'l'lie Ainericiiii United Press quotes one of the liighestninking officials of the Navy as saying that he believes that, the outcome of the war will, be (leeided by oil supplies, lie said that recent developments indicated that the Luftwaffe was feeling the pinch through dwindling oil supplies.

The Nazi machine, he said, was expected to make a supreme effort to grab the rich oilfields of Iraq and Iran. The officer said he believed that the United States Atlantic patrol, plus the transfer of more tankers to Britain, would gain for Britaih an overwhelming share of the world’s oil. It is reported from Istanbul that all along the Axis coastlines, from the Black Sea to Genoa. Germans and Italians are scrambling for ships in which to carry petrol to the Aegean air bases, where the stocks became depleted during the Crete campaign. Almost anything that will float is being taken. The Germans hoped to secure the Greek tanker fleet, but the Greeks were too quick, and most of the vessels are already safe in. British ports. The Germans recently asked the Turks to hand over 50 tanker-barges, equipped with Diesel engines and owned by British companies. They were formerly used in transporting Rumanian oil. The Turks, however, refused. Units of the Turkish fleet are reported to be patrolling the Dardanelles. Meanwhile Allied raiders, including R.A.F. mine-laying planes and submarines, are taking toll of Axis shipping in the eastern Mediterranean and the Eegean. According to reports received in Istanbul, at least half a dozen Axis ships were sunk last week.