94. Memorandum of Conversation0
SUBJECT
- Shell Views on Various Matters
PARTICIPANTS
- Mr. H. Wilkinson, Managing Director, Shell Petroleum Company, Ltd.
- Mr. J.H. Loudon, President and Managing Director, Royal Dutch Petroleum Company
- Under Secretary Douglas Dillon
Mr. Wilkinson spoke for Shell and said that he and Mr. Loudon wished to mention their general concern with the problem posed by the development of OPEC in the Middle East. Since I was undoubtedly familiar with the problem, Mr. Wilkinson said he would move immediately to what might be done about it. In essence, his view was that it would be useful for the U.S. Government to convey to the appropriate governments concerned the thought that it would not be in their interest to unilaterally force private companies to act against their will. He said it could be pointed out that this would affect the whole climate of private investment. He felt that such an approach could be particularly effective in Venezuela and should also be effective in Iran. He said the Shell Company had today delivered a letter to Venezuela couched in very polite terms indicating that they were reserving all their legal rights. Speaking for Shell, both Mr. Wilkinson and Mr. Loudon said they felt the oil companies must continue to be flexible and find ways to meet legitimate fears of the Arab countries. They thought this could be done if the Arab states did not push on too rapidly with unilateral action.
[Here follows discussion of Venezuelan oil and the Soviet oil offensive; for text, see volume IV, pages 652–654.]
- Source: Department of State, NE/E Files: Lot 63 D 90, Middle East General Oil and Petroleum 1960. Confidential. Drafted by Dillon. Meyer sent Jones a copy of this memorandum with the following observation on an attached note: “As you can note, CDD registered no reaction to Loudon and Wilkinson. We’re looking into this further with the Dept’s oil boys.”↩