(5 of 5)
Many oilmen privately concede that Arab oil may be coming into the mainland U.S., mostly from Libya and Iraq, which have little faith in the boycott's effectiveness anyhow, and have urged instead wholesale nationalization of U.S. properties in the Arab world. Says Mundy's Robert Bunford: "You can leave Libya, switch papers and arrive anywhere. The Libyans don't care. You left Ras Lanuf headed for an unboycotted destination, and that's all the Libyans want to know." One independent Houston oil producer relates stories of tankers meeting and transferring crude from one ship to another on the high seas to get around the embargo against the U.S. Even Federal Energy Czar William Simon conceded last week that there is "leakage" in the embargo, and added: "I just hope it continues."