693.001/448: Telegram
The Consul at Chefoo (Roberts) to the Secretary of State
[Received December 29—11:20 a.m.]
8. Referring to the Department’s telegram No. 4, December 15, 1 p.m., Standard Vacuum Oil Company and Texas Oil Company report local sales are increasing due to the fact that small quantities of petroleum products are leaving Chefoo overland for interior. The Asiatic Petroleum Company, a British corporation, reports two shipments have been held up by the authorities. The American companies find inland dealers are not ordering kerosene at Chefoo as there appears to be ample supplies of contraband oil, probably from Dairen, in their possession, selling below prices here.
Repeated to Peiping, Tsingtao, and Chungking.