soc.history.war.world-war-ii

According to an individual account in the book "Japan At War: An Oral
History" by Haruko and Theodore Cook, there were negotiations that took
place with the Dutch over the aquisition of oil supplies for Japan; but that
the American Ambassador was aware of them and pressured the Dutch to refuse,
contrary to what some of the other posters have stated in reply.

The real question is would the amount available have replaced the US
supplies in significant quantity to placate the Imperial Japanese Navy and
the answer is probably not.

What's often overlooked in discussions about the American "embargo" of
petroleum products to Japan is that, even absent the political problems with
Japan, the US was increasingly forced to cut back on exports of all oil
products due to the increasing demand of our Navy and industry in the build
up of forces for the expected war with Germany. There was much public
controversy in the states from industrialists when Harold Ickes assumed
control over oil export licenses and allowed some tankers to the far east.

--
JP