Use of oil as political weapon by Persian Gulf states

This file is part C of a sequence that contains correspondence and press reports relating to the reduction of oil production by the Arab States and embargoes on the US and the Netherlands in response to support for Israel in the 1973 Arab-Israeli War. It includes reference to:

• The question of an embargo on South Africa and Portugal and its possible impact
• Talks between the Kuwaiti Ambassador to the UK and the Secretary General of the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• The bidding for Nigerian oil
• Oil shortages in the UK; and the unlikely possibility of obtaining extra oil from Algeria
• The oil situation in Abu Dhabi
• The checking of Arab boycott rules with Kuwait Oil Company Limited
• A possible easing of the restrictions
• Landing rights for El Al Israel Airlines Limited in the Seychelles
• A suggestion by the Shah of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi that Britain should use its influence with fellow consuming countries to bring oil prices into the context of international monetary reform and in return he will use his influence in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to try to achieve moderation in future, particularly on prices
• The impact on India, Yugoslavia, Indonesia, and Singapore; and a draft press statement by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
• A press conference by the Abu Dhabi Minister of Petroleum and Industry Mana Saeed Al Otaiba
• An article in the US News and World Report about the possibility of US retaliation; the conclusion by a congressional research study that a US food a food embargo would be ineffective; and the urging by eight leading US economists for the US government to resist Arab 'blackmail'
• A message from Prime Minister Edward Heath to the Ruler of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al Salem Al Sabah on the oil situation and Anglo-Kuwaiti relations
• The Ruler of Qatar Sheikh Khalifa Bin Hamad Al Thani's wish for the Arab world to move closer to Europe and away from the US and Soviet Union
• The reaction of Egyptian Foreign Minister Ismail Fahmy to a message by Foreign Secretary Alec Douglas-Home, including Fahmy's views on the embargo as a sign of Arab unity
• Foreign and Commonwealth Office discussion of the US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's proposal for a high-level energy group
• Crude oil price increases by Gulf producers
• The activities of Mahmoud Saleem Rabbani, who is believed to be the local representative of Al Fatah in the Netherlands