'Oil Concessions' [‎191r] (400/480)

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(5) There is always the danger that a Company forced to
demcircate tiie aroa of its concession before sufficient
drilling has oeen done to enable the geological structure
to be txxurougnly understood, may "be unfortunate in tnat d.
good oil producing structure may subsequently be discovered
close to the boundary of the concession, with the result
that companies granted subsequent concessions might be in a
position to drain oil to some extent from territory held
by the original concessionaire. Companies must, however,
be prepared to take some risk in these matters, and if a
certain amount of territory is withheld it might be extreme
ly useful to H.M.Government in the course of later negotia
tions as a bargaining counter. If the other concessions in
which the Eastern and General Syndicate are interested on the
Arabian coast are completed and transferred to the Bahrain
Petroleum Company, the Standard Oil Company of California,
through the Bahrain. Petroleum Company, would control a very
considerable area in Arabia on the shores of the Persian
Gulf. In practice, however, the investigations of the
Anglo-Persian Oil Company have indicated that the prospects
of finding oil are not very favourable, and it therefore
sseems advisable to encourage the Bahrain Petroleum Company
to undertake as much active prospecting as they are pre
pared to do#
(6) Reviewing the question generally both from the
point of view of Bahrain and of the British empire, the
Secretary for Mines is of opinion that no further con
cession should be granted at present# We agree that from
the technical point of view there are advantages in the
operation..