Skip to item: of 178
Information about this record Back to top
Open in Universal viewer
Open in Mirador IIIF viewer

Coll 17/21 ‘Iraq. Oil in – ’ [‎71r] (141/178)

This item is part of

The record is made up of 1 file (89 folios). It was created in 12 Jan 1932-18 Sep 1935. 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. .

Transcription

This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.

Apply page layout

7
THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY’S GOVERNMENT
EASTERN (Iraq).
CONFIDENTIAL.
[E 7930/84/93]
Sir F. Humphrys to Sir John Simon.—(Received December 27.)
(No. 780. Secret.)
Bagdad, December 13, 1933.
’ LORD GLENCONNER, who was appointed general manager of the Mosul
Oil-fields last July, arrived in Bagdad on a tour of inspection on the
15th November and left on the 8th December. While in Bagdad he had several
interviews with Rustam Beg Haidar, Minister of Economics and Communications,
and Nuri Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , on the subject of the operations of the company, and, particu
larly, in regard to the payment of the instalment of dead rent, amounting to
£125,000 gold, equivalent to about £190,000, in accordance with article 10 of the
convention, which is due on the 1st January.
2. Lord Glenconner informed me that the company were not in a position to
raise fresh capital on the London market until the value of their concession had
been proved; in other words, until oil of a marketable quality had been struck.
Three rigs had been erected in the Mosul Province and drilling had already
reached a depth of about 120 feet. He said that he had arranged for a cable to
be sent to him from London each week reporting progress, but it was, of course,
open to doubt whether oil would be struck by the 31st March, on which date the
period of grace for payment of next year’s dead rent to the Iraqi Government
would expire.
3. Lord Glenconner informed me that he had spoken very frankly to Rustam
Haidar about the company's position, and he said that, if the prospects of the
company did not greatly improve by the 31st March, they would have to default
over payment of the dead rent unless they were granted an extension of time.
This would mean, under article 15 (i), that the Government would have the right
of cancelling the concession. Lord Glenconner told me that he had informed
Rustam Haidar that, if an extension of time were granted, the company would
be prepared to work at least twice as many rigs this year as they were required
to do under the agreement, and he said that if the concession were cancelled he
did not think that the Iraqi Government would find any other foreign company
who would be willing to conclude an agreement on such onerous terms as had
been accepted by the British Oil Development Company.
4. I pointed out to Lord Glenconner that it was possible that, if there was
default over the payment due next March and the concession was cancelled, the
Government might employ foreign experts at their own expense to drill in selected
areas west of the Tigris, and if oil of a suitable quality was discovered they might
put up the concession for tenders again in the hope of obtaining at least equally
favourable terms, after pocketing a year’s dead rent from the British Oil Develop
ment Company and taking over all their gear for nothing.
5. The question of a pipe-line to the Mediterranean was also touched upon
in my conversations with Lord Glenconner, who told me that his Italian and
German colleagues on the board were in favour of constructing a pipe-line to
Alexandretta. The cost, he said, was estimated at about 3 millions and the
Germans hoped to obtain the bulk of the contract for the pipes. I told him that
my personal opinion was that the country through which such a pipe-line would
pass was one of the most potentially disturbed areas in the Middle East and that
the security from a British point of view was nil. I thought that it would be in
the ultimate interests of the Mosul Oilfields Company to come to an arrangement
with the Iraq Petroleum Company for the use on commercial terms of their pipe
line to Haifa, and remarked that wherever oil might be struck in his company’s
concessional area it should not be very costly to join up with the Iraq Petroleum
Company’s pipe-line, which was liable to be duplicated if the world conditions of
the oil industry permitted.
I have, &c.
F. H. HUMPHRYS.
[991 dd—1]

About this item

Content

The file contains papers relating to the oil concessions and operations of the Iraq Petroleum Company and the British Oil Development Company in Iraq.

It includes:

  • Papers concerning payments due to the Government of Iraq from these companies.
  • Papers of the Committee of Imperial Defence Standing Sub-Committee for Questions Concerning the Middle East, dated 1933, concerning the British Oil Development Company’s proposed pipeline from its concession near Mosul to the Mediterranean.
  • Papers regarding the official opening of the Iraq Petroleum Company’s pipeline connecting the oil-field at Kirkuk with the Mediterranean port of Haifa, on 14 January 1935.

The papers include 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. minute papers, correspondence, and three newspaper cuttings from The Times . The correspondence is largely between Sir Francis Henry Humphrys, HM Ambassador to Iraq (HM Representative, Baghdad), and Sir John Simon, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. Other correspondents include: 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. ; the High Commissioner of Iraq; the Colonial Office; Sir John Cadman, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Iraq Petroleum Company; and the [British Government] Petroleum Department (Mines Department).

The file includes a divider, which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.

Extent and format
1 file (89 folios)
Arrangement

The papers are arranged in approximate reverse chronological order from the rear to the front of the file.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 89; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.

Written in
English in Latin script
View the complete information for this record

Use and share this item

Share this item
Cite this item in your research

Coll 17/21 ‘Iraq. Oil in – ’ [‎71r] (141/178), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/2882, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100045288928.0x00008e> [accessed 29 March 2024]

Link to this item
Embed this item

Copy and paste the code below into your web page where you would like to embed the image.

<meta charset="utf-8"><a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100045288928.0x00008e">Coll 17/21 ‘Iraq. Oil in – ’ [&lrm;71r] (141/178)</a>
<a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100045288928.0x00008e">
	<img src="https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000000602.0x0001a9/IOR_L_PS_12_2882_0142.jp2/full/!280,240/0/default.jpg" alt="" />
</a>
IIIF details

This record has a IIIF manifest available as follows. If you have a compatible viewer you can drag the icon to load it.https://www.qdl.qa/en/iiif/81055/vdc_100000000602.0x0001a9/manifestOpen in Universal viewerOpen in Mirador viewerMore options for embedding images

Use and reuse
Download this image