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File 1421/1908 Pt 3 'Persia: oil; negotiations between the Shaikh of Mohammerah and the Anglo-Persian Oil Co.' [‎276r] (117/338)

The record is made up of 1 item (168 folios). It was created in Apr 1909-Jul 1919. It was written in English. 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. .

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found to lie in the opposite direction to the interests of the Comranv in the
particular project under consideration. company in the
What I mean is this. It would apparently be much more to our ad™n
St s? -
Government
placing some mining concession in Arabistan in a foreign quarter oyer the
heads of the Shaikh and ourselves could not be precluded q ’
But my suggestion is that the right to allow boring for oil is not necessarily
if usually, included in the term “ Mineral Eights ” anil that it necessarily,
advisable in this case to dis-associate tlm tw^f ^libt Ld stofdly 6 ^
it would be to the Company’s own interests not to raise the specific issue ^
dissect the question of the Shaikh’s precise rights, in either eas^n the present
with him. 11 ' ° ^ reC ° UrSe t0 the alternative of an amica We compose
5. Speaking of the form which an amicable arrangement might take the
Managing Director suggests that the Company might pay the Shaikh thp
surface value of the ground taken up and allow him something equivalent to
3 per cent on the profits derived from the sale of the crude oil extracted in hil
nn r w,;I , ^tv^ Ure 8 n 0 fr he C ° m P an y to be based on «« price paid for the crude
Shaikh 6 Babbtiarl 0l1 Coni P an y au d to be accepted without question by the
I find it difficult to express an opinion as to the fairness of this offer
or as to whether, if the Shaikh referred to us for advice as he would be sure
o do, it a\ oulclbe one which we could press him to accept, without fuller
knowledge of the portent and probable results in practice of the arrangement
in operation with the Bakhtiaris. Perhaps the Managing Director or toe
omparry Agents would kindly supply further information on these points. I
gather that the Ba.ditiari Company and the Exploitation Company are merely
olxslioots of the main Company without any separate interests, and if so it
would seem that the business interests of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company
would lie m working the Bakhtiari Company at no profit, the profit only occur
ring at the stage where the Oil came to be handled by the parent Company.
I quite sympathise with the latter. Having paid their price to the
Central Government for their Concession, they naturally resent being called
upon to repeat payments in other quarters for their privileges, but in this
case we have to deal not with abstract truths but with the actual conditions
represented by an impotent Central Government; and an Arab Shaikh emov-
mg a large measure of administrative independence. The effect of these
conditions is to my mind that the Company’s best interests would suffer and
our national interests as well, if they were to pursue their enterprise through
the Persian Government in spite of the Shaikh; and that in the particular
matter under reference, the Shaikh would certainly ask our advice upon the
terms olfered him by the Company. It is clearly necessary therefere that we
should understand fully the real value to him of the terms ' offered, and that
they should be such that, if referred to, we could honestly advise the Shaikh
that his interests were met thereby and that he should accept them in satis-
taction.
6 . This is the aspect in which the questions at issue present themselves to
me, and I shall be glad if you will communicate my views to the Company’s
Agents at Mohammerah with my compliments, asking at the same time that it
he understood that they are given with diffidence for what they are worth, and
that I am quite unable to conjecture how far His Majesty’s Government would
or would not be inclined to endorse them. They are based on the belief that in
their treatment of the Eulers of Mohammerah with whom, through the life of
their distinguished enterprise, they will presumably be in the closest direct in
tercourse, a policy of dignified conciliation, within reasonable limits, will serve
the permanent interests of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, as well as our
national interests present and future, far better than one of a contrary
character.

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Part 3 consists of correspondence relating to an agreement between the Anglo-Persian Oil Company and Shaikh Khazal-Bin-Jaber [Khaz‘al bin Jābir bin Mirdāw al-Ka‘bī] of Mohammerah [Khorramshahr]. The correspondence is mostly between the Government of India (Foreign Department), Foreign Office, and 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. . Included as enclosures are letters, telegrams, and memoranda from the following:

Several matters are covered by the papers, including:

  • the negotiations over a loan to Shaikh Khazal by the Anglo-Persian Oil Company for the use of land on Abadan Island for an oil refinery;
  • the question of what is to be done with company buildings on the island when the concession period ends;
  • the nature of Shaikh Khazal's rights to the land in question;
  • the Persian Government's exceptions to some of the terms of the agreement;
  • the question of guards for the refinery and who will pay for them.
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1 item (168 folios)
Written in
English in Latin script
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File 1421/1908 Pt 3 'Persia: oil; negotiations between the Shaikh of Mohammerah and the Anglo-Persian Oil Co.' [‎276r] (117/338), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/144/1, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100030500368.0x0000a1> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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