'File 8/15 Arab Series - 1933-1939' [‎23v] (46/434)

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His Highness then took his leave, again assuring me of the vital importance
of keeping the Imam Yahya out of the Hejaz at all costs, adding that the Imam
was now immensely powerful, that he had invited all the Yemen under his un
disputed sway, and that, if he completed the conquest of Nejran, he would be
within striking distance of Riyadh itself, in addition to being able to threaten
the Hejaz through Asir.
I hope that I will not be thought to have acted irregularly in submitting
direct to the Colonial Office, a report on a conversation which occurred before 1
left Amman. As stated above, however, the Amir Shakir made these statements
in a visit ostensibly made to say goodbye, when my car and luggage was at the
door. 1 could not possibly have committed it to paper, without missing the
Imperial Airways machine, on which my passage was already booked and paid
for.
I presume that copies of this note will be forwarded to Jerusalem and
Amman, with this explanation as to the method of its submission.
( 45 )
{Received on 7tl+ August 1933, with Political Secretary’s letter No. 38, dated
21st September September 1933.)
Enclosure in Foreign Office covering letter, dated 16th September 1933.
No. 1.
Memorandum respecting Petroleum in Arabia {as revised by Petroleum Depart
ment .— {Received in Foreign Office, August 11, 1933.)
(A)— Petroleum Prospects of Arabia.
(1) LITTORAL Region of the Ilejaz. —Petroliferous deposits and seepage
have long been known to exist in this area. Interest in it was stimulated by
Mr. TwitchelPs survey in 1931 in the coastal region north of Jedda, but this
area seems to have dropped into the background of late. In a report furnished
by the Anglo-Persian Oil Company to the Petroleum Department in 1932, it
was pointed out that the general structure of the Red Sea is known geologically
as a “ Rift Valley,” that is, a sunken valley bounded on either side by rift faults.
The prospects of finding oil in commercial quantity are considered to be remote,
though not entireiy non-existent, and even after a complete survey, “ Rift Valley
conditions ” are such that any test drilling would be very speculative.
(2) Hasa and Koweit Neutral Zone. —It has been thought for many years
that this region might produce oil. The idea that it may be underlain by rocks
of the same geological age as those of the Iraq and Persian oil-fields, and that
potential oil structures might exist extending from Koweit to Qatar inclusive,
has been encouraged by the striking of oil in quantity in Bahrein in 1932.
(3) '!he Farsan Islands and Asir. —Interest in these islands andior the
mainland of Asir, from the point of view of petroleum potentialities, seems to
date from before the Great War. Operations were actually started on one of
the islands by the Red Sea Petroleum Company, a subsidiary of the Shell Group,
in 1926 or early in 1927, but drilling operations were subsequently abandoned as
unsuccessful. As to Asir, see (D) (2).
(4) Molcalla. —In 1928-29 the Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Company (Shell
Group) carried out investigations, and reached the conclusion that the petroleum
prospects were quite unfavourable.
(5) Muscat--The Anglo-Persian Oil Company abandoned this area as un
favourable in 1925-26.
(B)— Interested or Potentially Interested Companies.
(1) The Iraq Petroleum Company. —The Turkish Petroleum Company (now
the Iraq Petroleum Company) was formed in 1912, when the Deutsche Bank
became associated with the National Bank of Turkey and the Anglo-Saxon
Petroleum Company (Royal Dutch Shell Group), in order to press certain claims
to oil rights in Baghdad and Mosul, including those attached to the Baghdad
Railway Concession. The chief rival of the new company at that time was the
Anglo-Persian Oil Company, which had for some time been in negotiation with
the Turkish Government. In 1914 an agreement was entered into providing
for the reconstitution of the Turkish Petroleum Company, from which the
National Bank of Turkey withdrew, the new participants being the Anglo-
Persian Oil Company, 50 per cent. ; the Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Company and