The State reserved to itself the monopoly of the purchase and import of oils, and sold them to a special organization (the consortium), constituted under the form of a limited company with a capital of thirty million francs, of which half was to be paid up immediately. This company undertook delivery of the commodity, reimbursed the State for its expenditure (cost, insurance, freight), itself met the charges for unloading and storage, and re-sold the oil to the ten members of the cartel at prices fixed for each variety by the Ministers of Commerce and Supply. The distributive trade within the country was left free. Each of the Ten subscribed towards the formation of the capital in the following proportions:—
| Nominal Capital subscribed. | Paid-up Capital. | Percentage. | |
| Francs | Francs | Francs | |
| Fenaille et Despeaux | 4,725,000 | 2,362,500 | 15.75 |
| Désmarais frères | 4,725,000 | 2,362,500 | 15.75 |
| Fils de A. Deutsch | 4,725,000 | 2,362,500 | 15.75 |
| Cie. Industrielle des Pétroles | 3,861,000 | 1,930,500 | 12.87 |
| Raffinerie du Midi | 3,504,000 | 1,752,000 | 11.68 |
| Société L.B.C. | 2,526,000 | 1,263,000 | 8.42 |
| Paix et Compagnie | 2,238,000 | 1,119,000 | 7.46 |
| Cie. Générale des Pétroles | 1,428,000 | 714,000 | 4.76 |
| Lesieur et fils | 1,284,000 | 642,000 | 4.28 |
| Raffinerie du Nord | 984,000 | 492,000 | 3.20 |
| 30,000,000 | 15,000,000 | — |
As the consortium was founded in the general interest, they agreed to take interest at the rate of only 6 per cent. on the capital they had provided. Beyond that, all profits were to go to the State. They were fairly high, for on July 1, 1919, they amounted to 67 million francs.
This organization constituted a first monopoly of importation by the State, under the financial management of the consortium, which arranged for the reception and storage of the products and their sale to refiners. Under the system which prevailed before that of the consortium, the Ten pocketed the supplementary profits arising from buying and transport. These were retained by the consortium for the benefit of the community.
The oil magnates will never forgive the State for interfering with their affairs. According to M. Henry Bérenger, "although the State left to the cartel a large share in the management and the profits—more than 100 million francs—the latter never consented with a good grace to the intervention of their country's Government in matters concerning oil. They never freely accepted the principle of collaboration with the public authorities." In August, 1918, at the height of Marshal Foch's offensive, a grave crisis arose from the extraordinary particularism of the oil magnates. For fear of losing an additional profit of 15 centimes a litre, they refused to pool their cans, as the French High Command required of them. The reports sent in at this time by General Head-quarters are categorical in tone. The resistance from private interests became so strong that the Government decided, in the critical days of the great advance, to create a Commissioner-General for Petrol with full executive powers to subordinate rigorously all private commerce in oil to the requirements of the public safety.
M. André Tardieu, the High Commissioner at Washington, was sometimes also greatly impeded in his negotiations by the Ten. From the end of 1917, he made direct purchases of oil from the Standard Oil, the Atlantic Refining, and the Texas Oil, because of the difficulties that had been made for him by the rivalry and man[oe]uvring which he denounced in his telegrams. While the French Government was trying to buy at £5, the oil dealers were offering £7 10s. Their clumsy and inopportune intervention furnished the Standard Oil in many cases with an instrument of pressure.[44]
FOOTNOTES:
[42] Report placed before the Chamber on March 20, 1919, by the Duc de la Trémoïlle.
[43] Statement by M. Henry Bérenger in the Senate, June 2, 1920.