ONASSIS SEEKS A REVISED OIL PACT MAKING SAUDI ARABIA SHIP OWNER

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000600090061-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 17, 1999
• Sequence Number: 61
• Publication Date: February 20, 1955
• Content Type: NSPR

NEW App ov`e"or Release 20 ~~ 3 6A-RDP75-00149R000% OA0PI -3
. Onassis Seeks a Revised Oil Pace.
Making Saudi'A rabia Ship Owner.
Kingdom Would Continue Him as the.
Operator of Tanker Fleet-Opponents
of Contract Still Decry Preference
By GEORGE IIORNE
The Greek-Argentine shipping
Operator Aristotle Socrates Onas-
I. sis is reported to be working on
,J1 modification of his oil tanker
contract: with the Government of
Saudi Arabia.
Over a year ago Mr. Onassis
.,igoed a contract with the oil-
Commerce and now Egypt's
delegate to the Suez Canal Corr-',
pony, as its arbitration member. i
Aramco is to name a second
man and the twcr are to select. a;
third. A first'meeting is ached-
tiled for next week-end in Lu-
cerne, Switzerland.
Mr. Onassis was quoted by
The United Press from Mu,ite
Carlo as saying that he nriglit
sell 1,000,000 tons of tankers to
the Saudi Arabian Government
and that?he and the King lad
discussed i_auch a transfer as an
alternative to'the disputed Onaa-'
sis contract.
The King, who has offered to
buy the tonnage, would place it
for operation under the control:
of Mr. Onassis. The latter is.
considering the proposition, he
said, adding that the arbitration:
proceeding would he canceled if',
he accepted.
Comment b Oil M n
y e
i,i, tt Middle East country to pro- Vile a fleet of tankers for the Saudi Arabian flag in return for
lsrel'erence in taanspgrting the
uaLum's oil. Tanker companies
?fthe Arabian American Oil 'o,nljany (Aramco) objected to
use agreentent as contravening
Arar u:o's own oil concession.
Maritime ~ nations around the world ;protested the pact as
n, ouopalistic and discriminatory.
tinder the current contract
,N ,Nth. Bing Saud's ministers, Mr.
tinassis would set up a Saudi-
flag merchant marine of 500,000 id.ieadweight tons. With this fleet, it was estimated, he would
be able to carry 2,000,000 tons of
the nation's annual output of
111,000,000 tons of petroleum.
But the contract includes clauses
that gradually would tighten his
hold on oil transport.
lfiseusSlon With King
In recent weeks interests rep-
resenting the three pa)-ties- the
;a,tdi Arabian Government, the
Araniro companies and -Mr.
,3nassis-have been trying to
set up an arbitcatiorr procedure
u,,. instructions of King Saud,
'1`ite arbitration would determine
hel.iter the One.ssis contract
.uiLually violated the Aramco
_,, ra.ngement. -
A week ago Mr. Onassis re-
turned to his headquarters in
Monte Carlo from Riyadh, the
Saudi Arabian capital. There he
spent five days as the King's
guest, discussing the contract.
The ship operator reported
that the Saudi Arabian Govern-
,nent had named Ilelmy Badoui,
-rmer Egyptian Minister of
Oil men said here yesterday
that.,Lhey doubted the feasibility;
of the alternative proposal andl
that in any case It was no an-'
swer to the charge that the!
Onassis contract violated Lhe!
Aramco agreement. In other.
words, one tanker operator de-
clared, a 'preferential . hauling
contract to any fleet of tankers
would he objectionable no mat-
ter where the ownership of the
vessels rested.
Other questions were whether
the Saudi Arabian Government
could raise the money for sucli
a' purchase and whether Mr.
Onassis,could readily a9semble
such, tonnage, although lie is
said to control one of the larg
est fleets in the world. It is
estimated at I,000,0OO to 1,500,-
000 tons.
Much of his tonnage un-
der the flag of Liberia. The con-
sensus was that it could be
transferred without difficulty to
the Saudi Arabian flag if that
were the owner's intention.
CPYRGHT
Approved For Release 2000/05/24: CIA-RDP75-00149R000600090061-3