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Coll 30/91(1) 'Koweit Oil Concession: Agreement between the Shaikh of Kuwait and the Kuwait Oil Company.' [‎64r] (132/964)

The record is made up of 1 volume (477 folios). It was created in 12 Jan 1934-23 Dec 1934. It was written in English and Arabic. 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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with the Company’s representatives, avoid all discussion of
this subject and that if and when the concession was
granted to them he would come to some proper understanding
with His Majesty’s Government in the matter. I then asked
him to explain what this understanding would be and the
bhaikh once more declared he would make some arrangement
with the Company whereby he would nominate the Chief
Local Representative and submit the individual’s name for
the final approval of His Majesty’s Government. I pointed
out that the Company could not enter into any such arrange
ment in view of the Political Agreement entered into by
them and reminded the bhaikh once more that he had approved
of that agreement and that the only interpretation that
could be put on Clause 4 was that the final approval of the
Chief Local Representative had to remain in the hands of
His Majesty’s Government.
I went on to explain in the terms of para 3 of
Secretary of State’s t legram referred to above, that
in order to avoid any possible misunderstanding in the
future on this point His Majesty’s Government had wished
me to approach His Excellency and point out that the
question of the final appointment of Chief Local Represen
tative had by reason of -the Shaikh’s acceptance of the
Political Agreement been left in the hands of His Majesty’s
Government but that they wished at the same time to assure
him that they would not approve of any appointment to the
post without first consulting him and would give great
weight to his wishes. His Excellency’s reply was that until
he had actually given the concession he preferred not to
discuss the matter as it was quite possible that the
Kuwait Oil Company would not accept his terms and in that
case he would not give them or any other Company the
concession. Under these circumstances the Shaikh declared
he saw no use at this stage in discussing the point about
the method of appointing a Chief Local Representative.
4./

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Content

The file concerns negotiations over the signing of the commercial agreement between the Shaikh of Kuwait, Shaikh Ahmad al-Jabir as-Sabah [Aḥmad al-Jābir Āl Ṣabāḥ] and the Kuwait Oil Company. The agreement provided the company with exclusive rights to exploit oil, gas, and petroleum products within the state of Kuwait (also referred to in the papers as Koweit). The company was equally owned by the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC) and the Gulf Oil Corporation of the United States. The agreement was the counterpart to the political agreement between the British Government and the Kuwait Oil Company, the negotiations for which are described in file IOR/L/PS/12/3808: Coll 30/89 'Oil: Koweit Oil Agreement between the Koweit Oil Company and His Majestys Government.'.

The file covers: the need to expedite the signing of oil concession agreements in Qatar and Kuwait, in view of a further substantial discovery of oil in Bahrain (folio 472); minutes of 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. officials, commenting on the negotiations; drafts of the Kuwait commercial agreement (including a bilingual English and Arabic version, folios 191-204), with discussion and comment; the need for the commercial agreement not to come into force until the government (political) agreement had been concluded (folio 417); comparisons between the Kuwait and Qatar agreements (e.g. folio 407); the need for the Shaikh of Kuwait to be informed of the existence of the agreement between the British Government and the Kuwait Oil Company before the commercial agreement was signed (e.g. folio 354); the views of the Foreign Office on how to ensure that the concession was awarded to the Kuwait Oil Company, and awareness of the need to be able to defend the British position to the Government of the United States (folios 325-330); discussion in general of American interests in the concession; minutes of meetings held at 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. between British Government officials and representatives of the Kuwait Oil Company; Kuwait intelligence summaries; correspondence (some of it in both English and Arabic), and records of meetings between the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. , Kuwait and the Shaikh of Kuwait; frequent discussion of the question of the appointment of a Chief Local Representative to act on behalf of the Shaikh; British suspicions of the role of Major Frank Holmes in the negotiations; discussion of the financial terms of the Kuwait concession (folios 58-62); and a letter on the subject of the concession to Messrs Traders Limited (folios 7-10).

The main correspondents are the Foreign Office; representatives of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, and the Kuwait Oil Company; the Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ; and the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. , Kuwait (Major Harold Richard Patrick Dickson, and, acting for Dickson, Major Ralph Ponsonby Watts).

The Arabic language content of the file consists of approximately twenty-five folios.

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 volume (477 folios)
Arrangement

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

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 479; 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 and Arabic in Latin and Arabic script
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Coll 30/91(1) 'Koweit Oil Concession: Agreement between the Shaikh of Kuwait and the Kuwait Oil Company.' [‎64r] (132/964), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/3811, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100047796727.0x000085> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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