'Confidential D 107 86/5-I Eastern and General Syndicate Ltd. - Saudi Arabia' [‎92v] (189/386)

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for the Farsans given by the Idrisi on the 25th September, 1926. to a Mr. Cooper,
who marketed it to the Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Company (Royal Dutch Shell
Group). The latter formed the Red Sea Petroleum Company to work it. This
company started operations of some importance at Zifaf Island. The Idrisi,
acting, it was thought at the time, under Italian influence, but more probably
under that of Ibn Saud. made difficulties in the summer of 1927. After abortive
efforts by the company to overcome them. Ibn Saud came forward ostensibly in
the role of honest broker Often a local commercial agent in the Gulf who regularly performed duties of intelligence gathering and political representation. between the Idrisi, now his vassal, and the company. A
conference held at Wizan in December 1927 under his auspices between the
representatives of the company and the Idrisi was again abortive. Ibn Saud
eventually intimated “ a decision in the question of the dispute which we were
asked to settle between the Red Sea Petroleum Company and the Idrisi Govern
ment to the effect that a new concession should be drawn up and that in the
meantime it would be undesirable to accede to a request which the company had
put forward for permission to transfer their operations from Zifaf to Great
Farsan. He suggested that the company should send a representative to Jedda I
to negotiate the revised concession. On his persisting in this attitude the
company decided to withdraw from the islands and in September 1928 they
removed all material under the auspices of H.M.S. Dahlia. It must be assumed
that this terminated any rights under the Cooper Concession. The Shell Company
has recently stated that it is not interested to reopen operations in the Farsan
Islands.
(D )—Present Position.
Whatever view might possibly be held as to the legal position in regard to
past concessions, it is quite certain that Ibn Saud believes himself to be quit of
all of them and he is probably right. The position in regard to the various areas
may be summed up as follows :—
(1) Northern Hejaz .—Midian (Limited), closely associated with Sharqieh
(Limited) or some other concern, may have had rights in this area, but there is
no reason to think that they survive. No one seems to be actively interested at
present.
(2) A sir .Ibn Saud in June 1933 intimated that he would be prepared to
consider offers for a concession from British companies. The matter was referred
by the Petroleum Department to the I.P.C. within whose sphere of influence
Asir fell and who were the only company with any British interests who were
likely to be prepared to consider the matter. The I.P.C. have intimated that
they are prepared to send out geologists to make an examination if they can
secure the necessary rights without payment during the exploratory period.
(3) Hasa. After some competition between the Iraq Petroleum Company
(who sent a representative out to negotiate in 1933) and the Standard Oil Company
of California, a concession was ultimately granted to the latter. It is under
stood from information obtained from the I.P.C. that the concession was signed
on the 29th May, 1933, the terms being an initial payment of £30,000 (gold) and
a further deferred payment of £20,000 (gold) with a royalty at 55 . per ton.
(4) Qatar. The A.P.O.C., acting on their own initiative but with the
object of transfer to the I.P.C.. secured an exclusive option from the sheikh to
carry out geological investigations for a period of two years with the right to
apply for a concession within that period. A draft concession approved by the
I.P.C. has recently been submitted by the A.P.O.C. to the sheikh.
(5) Koweit Neutral Zone .—The present position in regard to this area is not
clear. It may be true that Major Holmes’s primary object in coming to Jedda
in April 1933 was to obtain Ibn Saud’s consent to a regrant, so far as the Saudi
Government are concerned, of a concession for this area. But it may also be the
case that so far as Ibn Saud is concerned, he has included the Neutral Zone with
the Hasa Concession. This position is at present under consideration by His
Majesty’s Government.
(6) Farsan Islands—There has been no activity since 1928 and both the
Shell and the Anglo-Persian have recently informed the Petroleum Department
that they are not interested any longer in obtaining a concession over these
islands.
August 5, 1933.
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