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File 3877/1912 Pt 1 ‘Turkey in Asia: oil concessions’ [374r] (756/834)
The record is made up of 1 volume (412 folios). It was created in 17 Jul 1904-4 Sep 1913. It was written in English and French. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
3
fully confirmed by the fact that neither Mr TV A • , •
our subsequent operations have ever L,k a smukT" d^ hok” ™ 1 "'" 7 W ° rk n ° r We in
- Danger of Foreign Control.
»°®” 1
(Limited), and consequently of this extensive oil°tieI 1 6 41 1 ^ °'^ >erslan Oil Company
British possession, being brought under foreign control’ " ' PreSent “ a P Ure ^
Persian Oif (^mpLy^L^mHed) ctmeimoT^t th6 Gommission that the Anglo-
Government as a means of securim? , ' f ‘ X!s .‘' ,lce at t | ie suggestion of the British
fuel to the navy, and t^at our ciZi n T o H ^ ‘‘' S 8 S0UrCe of su PP'y ^ oil
departmental commission held in December last 'v aS ex P la ‘ ned b y h,m to the
“ Imperial grounds” under strong-nressurp ft 7° i’q u ^ acce P te ^ thls position on
who was also at one tinieTnxio “sTSouisrh^lte £ ls0 that Mr ' D’Arcy,
on lb* refrained from so doino- for the i teu f t m . P ersi an oil concession,
^ " bU uom g Ior the same reason and under s milar nro^m^
s£i ri-wt-f 1 r- ;™ Sr ssa
independence. Failing in their efforts the Shell Co “’"P^y has maintained absolute
^u ^are'no^oubt* 0 ^^ Turkey! ^The'laTtCT^cimcern—oste^sMy^British—ds^as
vvas dmibtkss anticipated by^this gu-oup that Bie^rife^Govemm^nt’s support^couM be
secured. But as neither the Deutsche Bank nor the National Bank of Turkey has
the knowledge or organisation necessary for working an oil business, the control of this
th hlnTs of%r C S S hTc rta K ed ^ thiS gr0Up ’ WOuld ,mdoub tedly fall into
the hands of the Shell Combine, who would thus attain their object of usinc it as
a means of attack on the Anglo-Persian Oil Company
Latterly within the last few weeks, the Shelf group hearing that we are
endeavouring to secure contracts for oil fuel, and are arranging for the erection of
storage tanks at various ports, have made proposals with a view to securing control of
the company s wholeproduction of fuel oil, threatening that unless these proposals are
accepted they will start a war on rates, and continue selling at prices which will result
m a heavy loss to us until such time as we come to terms with them.
The arguments used by them are :—
1. I hat if we compete with each other, rates will be reduced to a level that will
be unprofitable to both companies, whereas, by giving the sale of our oil fuel into their
hands, they will, by virtue of the monopoly which they will thus secure in the East, be
able to dictate their own price to consumers.
2. That as they have a number of existing installations for the storage of fuel oil
in Eastern ports, it would be a waste of money for us to duplicate these when they are
are quite ready to undertake the marketing of our oil fuel, and to give us some share of
the better prices that would result from the consequent absence of competition.
These arguments are, of course, quite sound, and unless we can rely on strong
support from the British Government w~e shall, in the interests of our shareholders^
have no alternative but to come to some arrangement with the Shell Combine.
But as this would completely nullify the object for which the Anglo-Persian
Oil Company was founded, and for which Lord Strathcona, Mr. D’Arcy, and the
Burmah Oil Company (Limited) are associated with it, we do not desire to do this
unless, in fulfilment of our duty to our shareholders, we are compelled to do so.
In some proposals which I have recently put before the Admiralty and the Foreign
Office there is a way out of this difficulty—the only one that occurs to me or to \
my colleagues—and if it is admitted that the preservation of the Persian oil-fields
as a source of supply for the navy is an Imperial necessity—and regarding this
there can scarcely be room for doubt—it is, I venture to say, the bounden duty of
the Government to adopt some step such as that indicated in my proposals.
About this item
- Content
The volume comprises copies of correspondence, memoranda and other papers, produced in response to the prospect of an oil company backed by German capital taking control of future oil concessions in Mesopotamia [Iraq], and the implications that such concessions might have on the Anglo-Persian Oil Company’s (APOC) own oil concession in neighbouring Persia. The prospect of foreign capital exploiting Mesopotamia’s oil resources was a particular cause for concern amongst senior officials in the Admiralty, who were dependent on APOC’s oil production for their fuel supplies, and the Foreign Office. The more peripheral interest of such a concession in Mesopotamia to the Government of India and the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. is reflected in the volume’s papers.
The volume’s principal correspondents are: the Secretary to the Admiralty (Sir William Graham Greene); Secretary at the Foreign Office (Sir Louis du Pan Mallet); Secretary of the Political Department at the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. (Sir Arthur Hirtzel); Permanent Under-Secretary of State at the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. (Sir Thomas William Holderness); the Managing Director of APOC (Charles Greenway).
Subjects covered include:
- correspondence dated late 1912, chiefly between representatives of the Admiralty and Foreign Office, airing concerns over the implications of exploratory oil concessions agreed for Mesopotamia between a consortium including the National Bank of Turkey, Shell (referred to in the volume as either the Shell Transport Company or the Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Company) and Deutsche Bank, to APOC oil exploration in Persia;
- discussion of the Government of India’s interest in maintaining an independent APOC, and whether the Government of India should not invest in APOC, including a proposal that it purchase oil from APOC for use on the Indian railways, or contribute to the purchase of fuel supplies on behalf of the Royal Navy;
- through February 1913 to April 1913, diplomatic negotiations (including some correspondence in French) seeking to secure concessionary agreement for oil exploration in the Mesopotamian vilayets of Mosul and Baghdad for APOC (based on earlier arrangements made between the Ottoman Government and William Knox D’Arcy on APOC’s behalf) against the competing claims of the National Bank of Turkey consortium, and oil exploration rights outlined in the railway concession held by the Société du Chemin de Fer ottoman d’Anatolie (Anatolian Railway Company);
- between May 1913 and July 1913, with the likelihood of APOC not being given exclusive oil concessionary rights to Mesopotamia, negotiations to secure ‘absorption’ (with a British-controlling interest) of APOC with the National Bank of Turkey or its partners, Shell and Deutsche Bank.
The core correspondence in the volume dates between September 1912 and September 1913. The earlier date indicated in the volume’s date range refers to a copy of a contract between Turkish Government’s Ministry of the Civil List and the Société du Chemin de Fer ottoman d’Anatolie, dated 17 July 1904 (ff 147-148).
The volume includes a divider which gives the subject (Turkey in Asia: oil concessions) and part number (1), the year the subject file was opened (1912), and a list of correspondence references contained in that part by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence (f 1).
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (412 folios)
- Arrangement
The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the volume.
The subject 3877 (Turkey in Asia: oil concessions) consists of 3 volumes, IOR/L/PS/10/300-302. The volumes are divided into 5 parts, with parts 1 and 2 comprising one volume each, and parts 3, 4 and 5 comprising a third volume.
- Physical characteristics
The foliation sequence commences with 1 and terminates with 411. The front and back covers, along with the leading and ending flyleaves have not been foliated.
- Written in
- English and French in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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File 3877/1912 Pt 1 ‘Turkey in Asia: oil concessions’ [374r] (756/834), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/300, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100028928519.0x00009d> [accessed 25 April 2024]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/10/300
- Title
- File 3877/1912 Pt 1 ‘Turkey in Asia: oil concessions’
- Pages
- 373r:374v, 353v, 339r, 336r, 330r:332v, 275r, 253r:254v, 250r:250v, 248r:248v, 236r, 224r, 219r:219v, 203r:204v, 192r:192v, 187r, 156r:156v, 152r:153v, 104r:108v, 101r:102v, 94r:94v, 93r:93v, 88v:89v, 89v:90r, 60r:61v, 14r:14v
- Author
- Greenaway, Charles
- Copyright
- ©BP is believed to be the rightsholder
- Usage terms
- Creative Commons Non-Commercial Licence