LibyaThe South East Mediterranean may be close to Europe geographically, but - with the exception of Israel - economically and politically it looks as much East to Arabia, as to the West. Over the past 50 years this has manifested itself in a tendency for authoritarian Governments, often with only a limited commitment to supporting private enterprise, and an instinctive hostility to large, multinational companies based in the USA or Europe. Distrust of large oil companies, largely as a result of their upstream interests, has reduced their involvement downstream, with several countries in the region nationalising all or part of their oil industry, or else making it unattractive for them to stay. Political tensions (and wars) have also made it a less attractive region in which to invest, even when markets have been relatively open.
This page will look briefly at the downstream market in each of six countries running East then North from Libya to Syria, together with any known examples of petrol company maps.
Libya | Egypt | Palestine | Israel | Lebanon | Syria
Libya After being part of the Ottoman Empire until 1911, Libya became an Italian colony until the end of World War II, when it was administered by Britain and France until independence in 1951 as the United Kingdom of Libya. In 1969, Colonel Qaddafi led a military coup and proclaimed Libya a Republic, officially the Popular Socialist Libyan Arab Jamahiriya since 1977.
In the 1960s vast reserves of oil and gas were discovered in the country and Libya became a leader in first negotiating favourable contracts with oil companies, and then nationalising them. The Libyan downstream market was also nationalised in 1970, leading to the ending of international brands of petrol. Perhaps ironically, Libya developed its own international marketing company, Tamoil, which sold petrol in Italy, the Netherlands and a number of other European and African countries. In 2007 the Tamoil operation was sold to a consortium of international investors.
Maps
No other oil company maps are known from Libya. The current Libyan monopoly still uses retrofitted Esso signs at some locations (left). |
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Egypt
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In 1930 Shell promoted a pair of travel books from Egypt, both in English. The Road Maps (front and back shown left) have no date, and include regional maps of the country and by the Royal Automobile Club in cooperation with Shell. Shell has adverts, credit and the back cover. A contemporary Shell Motor Tours book (1st edition 1930) describes tours around Egypt, but for maps refers the motorist to the Road Maps book. |
Shell's asphalt operations were particularly important, and built a number of roads (and 60 aerodromes during the 1939-45 war). This image comes from a 32 page booklet, dating from about 1939 to commemorate the construction of the King Faoud Way (Cairo-Alexandria Desert Road). Although it does contain a simple map of the road, it is mainly a photographic souvenir, explaining the benefits of Shell's asphalt roads. (Image of frontispiece; the cover lacks the Shell symbol.) |
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PalestinePalestine has the possibly the most troubled history of the six countries on this page. Part of the Ottoman Empire until 1918, it was occupied by Britain from 1917 and under a British Mandate from 1922-47. During this period it was unstable, with the British authorities barely in control; not the conditions to create a stable economy likely to print maps for leisure motoring. In 1948 it was divided into two when Israel formally declared independence, and from 1950 the West Bank formed part of Jordan, with the Gaza strip under the control of Egypt. Both areas were occupied by the Israelis following the 1967 war. Although there has been some autonomy, especially in Gaza since 1988 when the PLO declared the state independent again (and with Jordan and Egypt renouncing their claims), economically the country remains weak and unable to function as a modern state.
Prior to 1948, Shell, Esso and probably Mobil had a presence in the country, with the Shell Company of Palestine being formed in 1922. The current status of the downstream oil industry is unknown; in the late 1980s the West Bank had a monopoly supplier (transliterated approximately from the Arabic as Pashkov), except in Israeli settlements, where Israeli brands were active.
No petrol company maps are known from either the Palestine Mandate period or the country today under the control of the Palestinian Authority.
IsraelCreated in 1948 by the Zionists after the ending of the British Mandate in Palestine, Israel has developed rapidly into a prosperous and relatively free economy, with the strong financial support of the USA. Despite this, Israel made it impossible for the international oil companies to operate in the downstream market profitably.
Esso sold out to Delek, the Israel Fuel company; Mobil Oil Israel became Sonol in 1957, and the market leader, Shell, became the Paz Oil Company in 1959. Despite this, Sonol was for a period owned by a US corporation and Paz held through an Australian investment company. Until the late 1980s, these three brands controlled almost 99% of Israeli service stations (there were a handful under the OZ brand, thought to be connected to Paz). In 1989 the kibbutzim movement, in the shape of Alon entered the retail market, and rapidly became a significant force, with a share in excess of 20% after its purchase of Dor Energy (another late entrant). Ironically, Alon now supplies more service stations than exist in total in Israel through its US subsidiary which uses the Fina brand in Texas and adjacent states. Delek has also expanded outside Israel, acquiring the Texaco outlets in Benelux in 2006.
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The far left map from Delek is undated, but shows the 1948-67 boundaries of Israel. The near left map is a 1969 commercial issue described as being "Amir's Pictorial Map of Jerusalem", but has overprinted in the box on the rear "With the Compliments of DELEK". |
Lebanon
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These Shell maps of the Lebanon date from the 1960s, and were prepared for the company by Offset Imp. Catholique of Beirut. Both are in card covers and contain the same map of the country at 1:200,000 divided into two sections, with one section pasted into each of the covers. (The smaller format of the later cover is simply due to narrower margins on the maps.) The reverse side of the earlier map's North part (1960, far left) carries a map of Beirut environs at 1:100,000, which has no more detail than the main map. By the mid-1960s, both internal maps had information printed on the reverse: North with an illustrated list of key sights, South with a street plan of Beirut. All information was in French only. |
The Caltex issue shown here was a joint venture with the US tyre company B.F. Goodrich, but the cover design was broadly similar to that of European (or Asian) Caltex maps from the 1960s. The map was reversible to display French or Arabic covers. |
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Syria
After the collapse of the Ottoman empire, Syria was under a French mandate from 1922 to 1946. A series of short-lived Governments and military coups followed, but is has been relatively stable under the socialist Baathist regime of the Assads since 1970, despite involvement in wars with Israel and in Lebanon.
Syria's oil industry was nationalised before 1970, and retail distribution appears to be under the control of Mahrukat, an affiliate of the Syrian Company for the Storage and Distribution of Oil Products (SADCOP). MapsThis Mobiloil map of Syria, Lebanon and Jordan dates from the early 1950s, and is in both English and Arabic. |
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It is probable that the other international petrol companies, including BP, Mobil/Mobilgas and Total (and possibly earlier names such as CIP and Mory) would have issued maps in some of the countries; Shell, Esso and Caltex may have issued maps in more than those shown. Other brands named above, and yet others not known to me, may also have issued branded maps. If you have a map from one of these companies, or could send me a scan of such a map, or - better still - the map itself, or if you can fill in some of the gaps in the historical accounts above, then please send me an e-mail!
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Text and layout © Ian Byrne, 2006-8 |
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This Esso map of Libya dates from 1967, and was prepared in the usual house style using cartographic conventions from the General Drafting Co.
