1 FEBRUARY 1957, Page 8

IT WAS POINTED put to me that in normal times

practically no crude oil is shipped to Europe from the United States; the operation had to start almost from scratch. If early hopes have not been met, it is mainly because of the understandable reluctance of independent Texas producers to -spend capital-on stepping up delivery, knowing, as they do, that the end of the emergency would mean the end of the delivery. The lesson of the crisis is not that power has corrupted the oil companies; without this pov;ter, we should actually be much worse off. Still, an industry of this size has to realise that if things go wrong it is likely to get the blame—unless the facts are made known

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