Oil Refineries Announces Receipt of a Claim and Petition to Recognize the Claim as a Class Action

HAIFA, Israel, February 20, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

Oil Refineries Ltd. (TASE: ORL.TA) (hereinafter "the Company,""ORL"), Israel's largest integrated refining and petrochemical group, announced that on February 19, 2013 the Tel-Aviv-Jaffa District Court ruled that the Company, the directors and the CEO serving prior to the publication of the Sales Prospectus (dated February 2007) as well as the directors serving on August 31, 2011 (during which the Company published for the first time an Immediate Report in respect to the agreement between the Company and the State to hold an emergency inventory) , have been joined as additional defendants in a claim and petition to have the claim recognized as a class action, which was originally filed and conducted to date solely against the State of Israel.

In the claim and petition to have the claim recognized as a class action, the plaintiff alleges inter alia that the Sales Prospectus published by the State and the Company and in the periodic reports published subsequently from time to time by the Company up until August 31, 2011, lacked material details concerning the said emergency inventory agreement and its financial ramifications, and therefore the defendants had to compensate all shareholders of the Company as at August 31, 2011 in an amount of NIS 140 million, which reflects, according to the plaintiff, the drop in value of the Company's shares as a result of non-disclosure of the Emergency Inventory Agreement.

The Company has not yet been served with the court documents as required by the said court decision.

The Company has issued appropriate notices to the relevant directors' and officers' liability insurers.

At this point the Company is unable to assess the chances of the claim and its possible effect on the Company.

About Oil Refineries Ltd.

Oil Refineries Ltd. (ORL), located in the bay area of the city of Haifa, operates Israel's largest integrated refining and petrochemical group. It is one of the leading refineries in the Eastern Mediterranean area and integrates, on-site, petrochemical businesses. ORL runs sophisticated and state-of-the-art industrial facilities with a refining capacity of 9.8 million tons of crude oil per year and a Nelson Complexity Index of 9, providing a variety of quality products used in industrial operation, transportation, private consumption, agriculture and infrastructure. Besides production of fuels, the company produces in its wholly owned subsidiaries Polymers (through Carmel Olefins Ltd), Aromatics (through Gadiv Petrochemical Industries Ltd), and Lube-Oils (through Haifa Basic Oils Ltd). The Company's shares are listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange under the ticker ORL. For additional information please visit www.orl.co.il.

ORL is controlled by the Israel Corporation Ltd. and Israel Petrochemical Enterprises Ltd., both public companies whose shares are traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.

The above noted in this release includes forward-looking statements based on Company data, as well as Company plans and estimations based on this data. The activity, results and other data may be substantially different in reality given uncertainty and various risks, including those discussed under risk factors in the Company's financial statements and Director's report

    
    Company Contact:
    Rony Solonicof
    Chief Economist and Head of Investor Relations
    Tel. +972-4-878-8152
    Contact IREn@orl.co.il
 
    Investor Relations Contact:
    Ehud Helft / Porat Saar
    CCG Israel
    Tel. (US) +1-646-233-2161 / (Int.) +972-52-776-3687
    info@ccgisrael.com