Proclamation 4907—Imports of Petroleum

The Secretaries of Commerce and Energy have advised me that the threat to the national security posed by imports of petroleum continues. The Secretaries, in conjunction with the Secretaries of State, Defense, and Treasury, advise that we no longer consider Libya to be a reliable supplier of United States energy needs, and that we must ensure we are not vulnerable to Libyan action in this area. Libyan policy and action supported by revenues from the sale of oil imported into the United States are inimical to United States national security. The Secretaries recommend that I take steps immediately to eliminate the dependence of the United States on Libya as a source of crude oil.

I agree with the recommendation and believe that the changes proposed are consistent with the purposes of Proclamation 3279, as amended, and the national security findings on which it is based.

Now, Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, including Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, as amended (19 U.S.C. 1862), do hereby proclaim that:

Section 1. Section 1 of Proclamation 3279, as amended, is further amended by the revision of paragraph (e) to read as follows:

Sec. l(e). Notwithstanding any other provision of the Proclamation, no crude oil produced in Libya (except crude oil loaded aboard maritime vessels at any time prior to March 12, 1982) may be imported into the United States, its territories or possessions.

Sec. 2. Section 11 of Proclamation 3279, as amended, is further amended by the revision of paragraph (1) to read as follows:

Sec. 11(1). The term "imports", when applied to crude oil other than that produced in Libya, includes both entry for consumption and withdrawal from warehouse for consumption, but excludes unfinished oils and finished products processed in the United States territories and foreign trade zones from crude oil produced in the United States.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this tenth day of March, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-two, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and sixth.

RONALD REAGAN