Falling off the Tightrope

U.S. oil companies that operate in the Middle East must walk a political tightrope. They are increasingly dependent on Arab nations for crude to supply their, refineries, and the leaders of those countries are growing ever more aware of the power that their control of a vital industrial resource confers. Libyan Strongman Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, for example, recently called on the Arabs to use their oil as a political weapon in their campaign against Israel and backed up his vague threat by nationalizing one small American-owned oil firm.

Thus the oilmen are under constant pressure to publicly champion the Arab cause--but they are also well aware that any such action would enrage multitudes of their Western customers, stockholders and employees who vigorously support Israel and view any expression of pro-Arab sympathy as a threat to the Jewish state's existence. Faced with that dilemma, most oilmen have taken a supercautious stance, either saying nothing at all about Middle East politics or confining their statements to general appeals for "peace" to which neither Arabs nor Jews could object. If any proof of the wisdom of that policy were needed, it has now been supplied by Standard Oil Co. of California.

Arab Interests. Two weeks ago, Standard Oil Chairman Otto N. Miller sent a letter to the company's 262,000 stockholders and 41,000 employees, urging them to show "understanding on our part of the aspirations of the Arab people and more positive support of their efforts toward peace in the Middle East." The letter referred to America's growing need for Arab oil and Standard's own large interests in the Middle East (it owns 22.5% of Aramco, whose Saudi Arabian petroleum operations make it the largest producer of crude in the world). Miller also urged the U.S. to "work more closely with the Arab governments and enhance our relations with the Arab people." He did not even mention the word Israel.

The letter may have been sensible from the standpoint of an executive who must get along with the Arabs, but as could easily have been predicted, it was a public-relations disaster. Californians promptly began a grass-roots boycott of Standard's Chevron gas stations. A group of 30 pickets, including several Jews for Jesus, marched outside Standard's San Francisco headquarters; some advocated burning Chevron credit cards. One night bags of red dye, symbolizing blood, were spattered against the headquarters building; an anonymous caller told the Associated Press that the act was designed to get Standard to retract its policy. Across the continent, a few Exxon customers, who apparently confused the company's former name--Standard Oil Co. (New Jersey)--with California Standard, threatened to turn in their credit cards.

Last week Miller backed off. In a letter to Richard Kaplan, chairman of San Francisco's Jewish Community Relations Council, who had requested "clarification" of Standard's policy, Miller rather lamely claimed that he had been misunderstood. "Some people," he said, thought he had implied "that peace and stability in the area could be established without regard to the existence of Israel or its legitimate interests. This is simply not true." That proved to be enough to stop some of the boycott and protests--and put California Standard back on the tightrope.

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