SOVIET PETROL

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXVI, Issue 3446, 22 March 1932, Page 3

SOVIET PETROL

IN AUSTRALIA. NO FACILITIES FOR HANDLING. Melbourne traders with Soviet Russia claim there is no basis for the scare rumours that Soviet petrol is to be introduced into Australia for general distribution, under-cutting prices, says a Melbourne paper. They point out that Russia has no facilities for exporting fuel and oil to Australia, and that no permission can be obtained from the harbour trusts in Sydney and Melbourne for the erection of the storage tanks that will be essential for any scheme of marketing Soviet petrol on a profitable scale.

The threat of a Soviet fuel dumping campaign has been present in Australia for the last year, but every supply of "Russian" petrol marketed in Sydney or Melbourne has proved when investigated to have come from one of the bankrupt American independent oil companies. Customs figures also show that only small imports of Russian fuels have reached Australia, the totals being too small for any public distribution. For the seven months ended on August 31 this year 12,500,000 tons of oil were produced by Soviet Russia as compared with 9,800,000 tons for the similar period last year.

The production now is in excess of the total aimed at under the Five-

year Plan. This over-production will force attempts to open up new export markets, but European motor journals anticipate that these markets will be gained in the big European countries, following the success that has been won by Russian petrol in Great Britain.