'File 5/1 VIII Kuwait Oil Company' [‎171r] (346/558)

explanations on any points in connection with either Qatar or
Koweit which the meeting might wish to raise.
j\£r. Wahely said that subject to the opinion of the
meeting he thought there might be advantage in informal
discussion such as the Company had suggested of the terms of
draft concessions. This procedure had been adopted with
advantage in the case of Bahrein. But it was important not to
short-circuit the authorities in the Gulf.
Mr. Walton and Mr. Laithwaite said that H.M.G. and the
Resident both felt that they had been kept rather in the dark
regarding the details and the course of the A.P.0.C.negotiations
with the Sheikh of Qatar. In particular they had no clear
idea of the financial terms which were being offered to the
Sheikh for the concession.
Mr. Fraser said that it was difficult to arrange the
financial terms at this end and thought that this side of the
matter could best be settled in the negotiations between their
representative and the Sheikh of Qatar. He could assure the
meeting, however that the financial terms were likely to be not
ungenerous to the Sheikh. They might indeed have to be rather
too generous from the A.P.O.C .point of view, since the Standard
Oil Company of California had paid a very large sum for their
concession in Hasa and this could not be without effect on
their own negotiations.
Mr. Starling said that the Petroleum Department would
favour the adoption of Mr. Fraser’s suggestion for informal
preliminary discussion in London of points arising out ox the
draft Qatar concession but that if they were to give their
opinion about any concession whether in Qatar or Aoweit they
would of course have to have some idea of the financial terms
since in some cases it was impossible to form an opinion
whether the terms of a concession were fair without having
tnis information.
Mr. Hearn rA.P. 0 .Creminded the meeting that Ramazan
started/