PETROL IN FRANCE

Evening Post, Volume CI, Issue 19, 22 January 1921, Page 2

PETROL IN FRANCE

RIVALS FOR BIG BUSINESS

IS THEIR OIL IN THE COUNTS V?

ENTRY OF "STANDARD OIL."

' For some time past the oil combine known as the Royal Dutch, Shell, and Mexican has secured what might ■ be termed French citizenship. These names are familiar to everybody in, the business .world in France, and large sum;:; of French money have been invested in the shares of ■ the companies concerned. Numbers of people, says a Paris correspondent of, the* London Daily Telegraph, have speculated in oil securities issued under the;above names to the extent probably of at least ten. million pounds. The three great trusts, considered to be under pritish control, also control the French market, and exercise, as some pretend, an actual monopoly. Suddenly tho Business world, and all those interested in the oil question, wore startled, by the appearance in France of the. Standard Oil Company as a. competitor ,jvith-the three above-named concerns. At first no special attention was paid to the fact of intruders starting business here in opposition to.a loiig-es--tablished undertaking, which bega« operations in'this, country long before the Mvaar. The initiative of the Standard Oil Trust appeared at first glance to be indiscreet,.. not to say superfluous. - For it is well remembered that the American trust refused to give France,'not only its petrol, butrilso the credits with which, to pay for it during the war, -whereas ail such facilities were readily granted \ by'the Royal Dutch. .'This important I matter has" not yet been settled to the satisfaction of alt "concerned. Financiers' 1 are not easily induced to lay th«ir affairs and operation's" before the world. A view taken in certain quarters is that the new elemmit introduced—thaj; is, American competition—may, py v ):educing prices, render services to the French public at large, although some investors, speculators, and) refiners may lose money. ■ . r >. \ _.. _ Some industries use petrol or its restdue as fuel instead of coal. Great Britain has coal but possesses no. oil. America has ereat oilfields, and once in possession, pf a fleet of. tank steamers 1 might swamp ■ the British mineral oil trade. British energy has been ahle 'to gain a considerable start by securing interests in many, of the most productive oil regions. The United States can only count upon the Supply of oil at home for eighteen years, whereas countries consuming less have a Veserve to last 250 years. ■ .The proportion given is 7000 million barrels for the United States against 53.C00 million casks for the rest of the world. America, therefore, must strike oil elsewhere than in the United States. Shrewd business men have, crpssed tjie ocean, to France not to export the precious liquid, except, perhaps,' for the firat'two or three yjars, but to help the French to find, oilfields for both countries. There are those who think that this event offers a great opportunity if'there is enough-energy here., to prevent French netrol interests from falling entirely into American . hands. The "new combination with the American^ might permit France to refrain, her independence with respect to the British Oil Combine by holding the balance between the two rivals. ' ' . V" SEW"FRENCH COMPANY/ ", Under the name .of the Franco-Ameri-can Standard Company, a-company has been promoted after an agreement has been reached with, the Standard Oil Trust and the Banque dp Paris'et das Pays Bas. America furnishes 49; per cent., of the capital, and the Banque de Paris 51 per cent.' The teh French firms representing the oil refineries in this country have already, it is said, committed "hari kari," or else have been swallowed up in the nejv, big Franco-American undertaking, for they have probably no means of escape other than absorption or bank- ' ruptcy.. The disappearance oi: these French firms caiises little regret here, for they were dependent on the foreign oil supply. Thus - a great cartel had j grown up within the French Republic, to which no one paid attention until'now..,, Petrol is a national question, for France cannot risk finding Herself,- in the event of war, left in the larch, as was the case when the Syndical Chamber of: the oil industry in France threw up tho sponge in December, 1917, at the grayest moment in the war. Then the refiners failed to meet requirements.

BuJ, in,a- new attempt to cremate per- j haps a .monopoly, the. question is pointedly asked of America : What do you offer? Let it be- well remembered thai at the momentous period between 1917 and 1918 appeals were addressed to President Wilson by M. Clemenceau and M. Henri- Beranger. The battle was won. because, the American I'resident sent almp.st at onpe 100,000 barrels to France, ithanks _tp the. British Navy.' The next war will be one of putrol and 1 mineral spirits. France should: treat on equal terms, with the. Standard Oil Trust, and negotiate with perspicacity and. a -keen view to her own .interests. The French profess no preference between the great xnvaj trusts, buit-wish to obtain the best conditions as the result of their competition. The board of directors of the Hew company is stated. to be: For America, Mr.: A. C. Bedford, chairman of the Standard Oil Trust,' and Mr- H-. E. Bedford, of the Standard Oil for Europe: also Messrs. W. Oswald and P. Hurl}; and for ■France: MM. Jules Cambon, Ambassador; Horace Finaly (general manager), andJules B«in, director of the Banque de Paris et dcs Pays B&s. The president of the new combination is M. Jules Cambpn. and the vice-president Mr. A. 0;" Bedford."". ' ' ' "■ ' ' ' .' INVESTIGATIONS IN,.?EANOE. There has been much, talk ol: the presence of beds of "petroleum in the. soiCai France. The localities given are in the mountains of the Jura/ in Savoy, in the Jjimagne district, in the forest districts of the liandes, and in the wine-growing plains of. the Herault. But, contrary to assertions, no' negotiations are on fpot at present to wprk concession in the supposed, oil-producing regions. AH that, is being done consists in-boring operations and 'prospecting near ClermontFerrand, in' Auvergne. Indications cx j ! ist of the presence of sand impregnated with mineral substance giving.tjie peculiar smell of petroleum. This is all thatis known, s-q far.i But the. Government 'intends to obtain leave from Parliament to. organise, a system of technical industrial training on the question of petrol, including a .school for boring purposes furnished with modern appli&ni.-es. Hojje, therefore, exists that oil''will "be discovered in the subsoil of Franc«; With: many people the wish is, perhaps, father fa the thought that, the- Standard. Oil combination will now help *!>' push on these researches with its immense resources and experifenpe.

Attention it. also, giyep to the existence of petroleum in Mesopoiajnia, and td.tjie concession obtained by Qveab Britain under the Treaty of Peafie to work Uiese DJlfields, Bijt special interest is .taker in the grant of a. notable portipp to bo reserved for France of ihe .output obtained from the Mesopotamia!) oilsprings, There remains the difficulty of wqrkjrig the French share from the commercial standpoint, that is the transport from Arabia to French ports,, both of the petrol and heavy oil that ia so much.

wanted. It » said that a French group of financiers has been formed to develop the French concession in the petrol yield of Mesopotamia, with Sir Basil Zaharoff as chief shareholder. This group, it is rumoured, has already secured a working capital of £4,000,000. Further, the shipbuilding yards of Sir B. Zaharoff in England have been constructing tank steam 1 ers with feverish haste, and these vessels will be ceded to the new company so as to enable it to transport the French share of Mesopotamian-oil to France without losp of time. It is suggested here that when motorists in Paris can buy cans of Mesopotamian petrol on the boulevards they will understand, why "certain. Allies" were so deeply interested in the land \yhioh once formed the Garden of Eden.