'File 5/2 I Kuwait Neutral Zone' [‎11r] (26/474)

5
the Standard Oil get a concession in the Zone.
Mr. Laithwaite suggested that perhaps the position
was rather that Ibn Saud merely wanted some other
competitor in order to bid up the Standard Oil* He
asked what the preference granted to the Standard Oil
really amounted to, and suggested that they had merely
been offered a preference in the event of other
considerations being equal. That meant that in spite
of the penalty provision in Ibn Saud ! s agreement with the
Standard Oil, to take effect if some other Company
obtained a concession, the concession would in fact be
given to the Company which offered the best terms.
Mr. Bendel . agreed that, other things being equal,
Ibn Saud would perhaps prefer that the concession should
go to the Standard Oil, and Mr. Warner suggested that it
was merely politeness on the part of the King when he
said that he would rather give the concession to a
British company..
Sir Louis Kershaw said that on the whole if we
could .arrange things so that a party acceptable to
obtained a concession it was perhaps better in
the long run to aim at this than at sterilisation,
Mr, Warner said that whoever got a concession it
would be necessary in view of the joint sovereignty of
Ibn Saud and the Sheikh over the Neutral Zone, to reach
some definite agreement with Ibn Saud for carrying out
unified measures of control, protection, etc., on behalf
of both rulers,
\ Mr. haithwaite pointed out that if the Americans got
the concession the result would be that Ibn Saudis
interest in the Neutral Zone would tend to increase,
while/