Embargo was the successor to the Oil Working Group which was created in 1980 by War on Want, the Methodist Church Overseas Division and the United Reform Church, to raise the issue of illegal oil exports to Southern Africa. In 1981 Christian Concern for Southern Africa undertook responsibility for co-ordinating the group which lobbied oil companies, raised questions at their annual general meetings, undertook research and published two books including Oil and Apartheid. In 1985 the group was renamed Embargo and ELTSA took over its administration.