Gulf Withdraws

Out of Colombia last week went South American Gulf Oil Co., subsidiary of Gulf Oil Corp., the great Pennsylvania petroleum company controlled by the great Pennsylvania Mellons. All field operations were suspended following the decision of the Colombian legislature to add 16% tax to existing royalties collected by the government from oil producers.

The shutdown of Gulf's Colombian fields marked the final step in a series of Latin-American difficulties. In 1926 Gulf's Colombian production was seriously diminished by the cancellation of the Barco Concession,--a concession which unique Henry L. Doherty's Cities Service Co. had obtained from the late great Colombian Virgilio Barco and had then sold to Gulf. In 1929 the Colombian Government upheld this cancellation and the matter is now before the Colombian courts. Gulf Oil has also recently suspended operations in Panama and Mexico.

The action of the Colombian legislature in increasing the tax on petroleum production was interpreted (by Wall St.) as the result of British maneuvering in the world-wide competition for petroleum properties. Specifically, the Gulf departure from the Colombian field was considered a development favorable to Sir Henri Wilhelm August Deterding and his Royal Dutch-Shell group.

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