Oil Refineries Notified on Legal Claim Filed Against Subsidiary Carmel Olefins

Oil Refineries Notified on Legal Claim Filed Against Subsidiary Carmel Olefins

Oil Refineries Ltd., Israel’s largest oil refiner, announced that it has received a notification from its subsidiary, Carmel Olefins Ltd. (a private company in which the Company holds 50%, and in respect to which the Company has signed an agreement to purchase the balance of its shares as outlined in the press release dated June 25, 2008) (hereinafter: “CAOL”).

Under the notification:
– On October 23, 2008 CAOL was presented with a request for the classification of a class action claim, as defined under the Class Action Law – 2006, filed by Mr. Arye Bernstein, on October 5, 2008, with the Tel-Aviv District Court (hereinafter: the “Requestor” or the “Request”, respectfully). The Request was filed with respect to non- monetary damages caused, according to the Requestor, as a result of two smoke emissions events which occurred on September 15, 2003 and October 5, 2008 (hereinafter: “the Events”)

– The Requestor asks, in his Request, to represent the citizens of the Haifa Bay area and those who were present in the area (hereinafter: the “Group”) and were exposed to the smoke emissions on the said dates.

– The Requestor claims that each of the members of the Group is to be compensated NIS 1,000 with respect to the damages claimed to have been caused.

– The Request does not quote the estimated number of the Group’s members and does not quote the total amount that the Requestor claims needs to be compensated to the Group.

– The Request argue to have been filed following the results of the criminal process held against CAOL, under which CAOL was convicted, at its own admission, in a revised indictment relating to
the events, by the Israeli Supreme Court.

– CAOL is currently studying the Request with the assistance of its legal advisors.

The Company is not able to evaluate the chances and consequences of the claim at this time.

About Oil Refineries Ltd.

Oil Refineries Ltd. (ORL), located in the bay area of the city of Haifa, is Israel’s largest oil refinery. ORL operates sophisticated and state-of-the-art industrial facilities with refining capacity of 9 million tons of crude oil per year, with a Nelson complexity index of 7.4, providing a variety of quality products used in industrial operation, transportation, private consumption, agriculture and infrastructure. The Company is also active in the area of Aromatics and Polymers through wholly-owned Gadiv Petrochemical Industries Ltd. and 50% owned Carmel Olefins Ltd. ORL is traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange under the ticker ORL. For additional information please visit the Company’s website: http://www.orl.co.il

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