A description is given of the origins of the Marshall Plan and of the development of the organizations associated with this plan, both in Europe and in the U.S.A.
After this introduction, which is couched in more general terms, attention is entirely concentrated on the way in which petroleum and petroleum products have been dealt with in this international framework, from its beginnings in the middle of 1947 up to the end of 1950. Thus, successive descriptions are given of the European Report, made during the hot summer days of 1947 in the "Grand Palais", Paris; of the reactions to this report from various American official bodies; and of the reports made on oil matters by the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation (O.E.E.C.) in Paris, after the European Kecovery Program had been passed by the American Congress, with a view to the distribution of American aid.
In particular, much space is devoted to the European refinery problem, which formed, during the period under review, the most -important subject dealt with by the O.E.E.C. Oil Committee; its progress is followed step by step with an explanatory commentary.
American aid in petroleum matters is analysed, and the remarkable development in the European consumption of petroleum products, together with the refining capacity for crude oil, is reproduced statistically.
Finally, it is shown that world crude oil production has risen very much more rapidly since 1947 Secretary of the Netherlands Government Office for Petroleum and Delegate to the O.E.E.C. Oil Committee. * than was foreseen at that time, and that the consumption forecasts for the European countries taking part in the Marshall Plan have proved to be more in line with actual developments than was generally expected.
Une description est donnée de la naissance du Plan Marshall et du développement qu'ont suivi les organes s'occupant de ce Plan tant en Europe qu'aux Etats-Unis.
Après cet avant-propos conçu en termes plutôt généraux, toute l'attention est portée sur la façon dont le pétrole et les produits du pétrole ont été traités dans ce cadre international, depuis le milieu de 1947 jusqu'à fin 1950.
C'est ainsi que successivement, on passe en revue le Rapport Européen établi au Grand Palai; à Paris pendant les fortes chaleurs de l'été de 1947, les échos que provoquait ce rapport chez différents Offices américains ainsi que les suggestions faites par l'organisation Européenne de Coopération Economique (O.E.C.E.) à Paris, une fois que le Programme de Redressement Européen avait été agréé par le Congrès des Etats-Unis, dans le domaine du pétrole pour assurer une répartition adéquate de l'aide américaine.
On s'arrête notamment sur le problème du raffinage en Europe, problème qui pendant la p
