Gulf war oil supply scare

Press, 18 May 1984, Page 1

Gulf war oil supply scare

PA Wellington Escalation of the Gulf war is beginning to worry the New Zealand oil industry. The Minister of Energy, Mr Birch, said last evening that the conflict was serious and could spark off an oil crisis. When a Saudi Arabian supertanker was struck by a missile in the Arabian Gulf on Wednesday the implications of the Iran-Iraq war had been dramatically highlighted as a quarter of New Zealand’s imported oil came directly from Saudi Arabia, he said. Mr Birch, the chairman of the International Energy Agency, an arm of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said, “It’s a very serious conflict. There is a view held by some of the Middle East leaders that there’s a danger of escalation, and of course they are very concerned about what would happen to the world . . . international oil market in the event of that. “Any distruption of any length of time could cause a third oil shock. “Now I’m not saying that will happen but a serious conflict in the Middle East still has that potential,” he said. As chairman of the agency Mr Birch visited the Middle East recently and talked to oil leaders there. The agency contingency plans if oil supplies are cut by 7 per cent or more would mean immediate rationing. Gulf tension, page 6