HAIFA, Israel, May 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Oil Refineries Ltd. (TASE: ORL.TA) (the Company), Israel's largest oil refiner, announced that on May 17, 2009 a request for the classification of a legal claim as a class action claim, as defined in Action Law - 2006 (hereinafter: the Request), was filed with the Haifa District Court against the Company and Carmel Olefins Ltd. (hereinafter: the Responders).

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, 2003 (hereinafter: the Events), with regards to which three prior requests for classification of the claims as class action have already been submitted, two of which are still pending.

The Requestors claims that each of the members of the Group is to be compensated NIS 1,500 with respect to, among others, health risks, damage to autonomy, distress and discomfort as well as for damages to Requestors resulting from global warming, caused, according to the Requestors, as a result of the events.

The Requestors ask, in their Request, to represent the citizens of Kiryat Tivon, Kfar Hassidim, Nofit, Sha'ar Ha'amakim and Rehassim (hereinafter: the Group). According to the Requestors, the Group comprises of approximately 22,500 people and the total amount that the Responders need to compensate the Group is approximately NIS 34 million.

It should be noted that the majority of the causes of action claimed herein, appear in the previous claims and the amounts noted in the Request are lower than the amounts noted in prior request to which the Company is a party to.

As part of the Request the courts have been asked to review the Request together with the prior requests.

The Company is currently studying the Request with the assistance of its legal advisors.

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

Contacts: Company Contact: Igal Salhov, Chief Financial Officer, Oil Refineries Tel: +972-4-878-8152 ContactIREn@orl.co.il Investor Relations Contact: Ehud Helft \ Fiona Darmon GK Investor Relations Tel: +1-646-797-2868 +972-52-695-4400 info@gkir.com

Contacts: Company Contact: Igal Salhov, Chief Financial Officer, Oil Refineries, Tel: +972-4-878-8152, ContactIREn@orl.co.il; Investor Relations Contact: Ehud Helft \ Fiona Darmon, GK Investor Relations, Tel: +1-646-797-2868, +972-52-695-4400, info@gkir.com