File 1421/1908 Pt 3 'Persia: oil; negotiations between the Shaikh of Mohammerah and the Anglo-Persian Oil Co.' [‎257v] (80/338)

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Enclosure 7 in No. 1.
Acting Consul Wilson to Consul-General Cox.
Sir, Mohammerah, November 9, 1910.
I HAVE the honour to refer to the marginally cited correspondence* on the
subject of the proposal of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (Limited) to bore for oil at
Ahwaz, and to forward in this connection a copy of a further communication, dated the
8 th November, which I have received from the managing agents of the company on the
subject, together with a copy of my letter in reply thereto.
2 . It will be seen that the company, in violation of the second part of article 3 of
their concession,! propose to start work in the sheikh’s lands, without committing the
company to any specific promises to the sheikh, and to temporise with him in the
matter of terms, and in fact deceive him, with the object of enabling them to bring
pressure to bear on him from Tehran. Sooner than accede to such terms as they
granted to the Bakhtiari khans, they would, if necessary, abandon all idea of drilling in
the sheikh’s territory, a course, I need hardly add, which would meet with the enthu
siastic concurrence of his Excellency, who is by no means anxious to see any more of
the oil company's activities than he does already.
3. I have submitted a detailed statement of the sheikh’s position in the matter
in the correspon lence cited above, which came under review in your letter of the 2 nd
October to the Government of India; it soems therefore unnecessary for me to discuss
the subject further, and I would beg that I may receive instructions as to the attitude
that I should adopt in the matter, as I can scarcely doubt that the sheikh will not
permit any work to be done by them in the said lands until the company has concluded
an agreement with him, as provided for in article 3 of their concession.
4. I have forwarded of this communication, together with copies of my despatch of
the 28th October, and of the sheikh’s firman A Persian word meaning a royal order or decree issued by a sovereign, used notably in the Ottoman Empire (sometimes written ‘phirmaund’). for the Ahwaz lands, to His Majesty’s
Minister, Tehran.
I have, &c.
A. T. WILSON, Lieutenant, I.A,
Enclosure 8 in No. 1 .
Messrs. Lloyd, Scott, and Co. to Acting Consul Wilson.
Mohammerah, November 8 , 1910.
WE have the honour to advise you, in connection with this company’s proposal to
commence drilling operations for petroleum on the hills at Ahwaz, that the question of
an arrangement to be made with his Excellency the Sheikh of Mohammerah has now
been fully considered and discussed by the board of this company.
It has been decided that the course to be followed is for us to start our work
at Ahwaz without committing the company to any specific promises to his Excellency
the sheikh, and, if and when his Excellency the sheikh raises any objection, we will
immediately stop work and appeal to the Government at Tehran.
Our directors are, however, anxious that no action should, on anv account, be taken
by us in opposition to his Excellency the sheikh, or that we should have any dealings
with him in the matter of “ terms,” so creating a position which will enable us to
represent to the Persian Government that they must take the necessary steps for placing
us in a position to carry out the objects of the concession purchased by this company
from the Persian Government.
As to the “terms” which this company would be ultimately willing to make with
his Excellencv the Sheikh of Mohammerah, we are instructed that the arrangement of
these can be left till a later date, but the feeling of our directors is that, in no event,
would they be disposed again to agree to such terms as they were, under force of
circumstances, compelled to grant to the Bakhtiari khans, even in the form indicated by
. * Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. telegram of June 10; Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. letter of October 2 to Foreign Department (copy sent to
Tehran); and Mohammerah consulate letter of October 28, 1910.
f Translation of extract from concession : “ The Government grants also to the concessionaire the right
to acquire all other lands or buildings necessary for the same object, with the consent of the proprietors, on
terms which shall be arranged between him and them, without the latter being allowed to raise claims of a
nature to surcharge the price ordinarily current for the lands situated in their respective localities.”