AT THE HEART OF THE ROAD TRANSPORT INDUSTRY.

Call our Sales Team on 0208 912 2120

German Capital for Petroleum.

8th February 1906
Page 16
Page 16, 8th February 1906 — German Capital for Petroleum.
Close
Noticed an error?
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.

Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

The statement recently made in Roumanian papers, and reflected in a leading Liberal organ published in London, that a German petroleum company had been floated in Germany with a capital of over four million marks was premature : the concern was in abeyance for another month. In Article I of the prospectus this company is described as the " Sirius—Werke, Aktien-(jesellschaft air Petroleum Industrie," with the head office in Berlin ; and in the following article the objects of the undertaking are thus enumerated.•" To acquire and exploit oil-fields, to erect and work petroleum refineries, as well as to sell any of the products yielded, for which purpose the company is empowered to lease, acquire, or utilise landed property; to undertake industrial and business operations and to establish branches ; and to acquire or participate in foreign wells or refineries or other petroleum industrial concerns."

Article IV fixes the share capital at 4,300,000 marks, divided into 4,300 'shares with a nominal value of 1,000 marks each, and informs possible investors that, " as a charge upon this capital the Berlin Syndicate for the Production of Petroleum, Ltd., receives 445,000 marks in cash and one million marks in fully paid-up shares, for oil-fields

in Borystav, moyice, and Glive-Dobromil, inclusive of

shafts and oti`.,:i• -a-ks." All these oil-fields lie in Galicia,

near Drohobycz. During the first two years, which are to be considered as " building time," interest will be paid on shares at the rate of four per cent. W. Mertens and Company, Berlin, were the promoters, whilst the Deutsche Bank undertook to receive applications for-shares. Germany has oil of her own, but the demand altogether swamps supply, which in 1904 totalled 89,6,36 tons against a consumption of 1,033,87o tons in petroleum alone. Her foreign bill for petroleum in that year amounted to „63,663,000, and by-products (paraffin, wax, lubricating oils, benzine, etc.) cost Aci,418,25o. German oil fails to yield a good petroleum, but can be worked up into an excellent lubricant of heavy specific gravity ; hence the large investments of German capital (about two and a half million pounds sterling) in Roumanian wells. In Galicia German capital is represented by the Schodnica Aktien-Gesellschaft, backed by the Deutsche Bank. As an oil-producing country Galicia ranks far superior to Roumania, the respective yields in 1904 having been 827,116 and 455,354 tons. One of the aims of the Sirius Company is to capture the Russian and East German markets. The fight with the Standard Oil Company in the North Sea ports has been taken up by the Deutsche Petroleum-Gesellschaft and the Hamburg Petroleum-Produkte-Gesellschaft.

Tags

Locations: Berlin, London

comments powered by Disqus