'File 5/1 VI Kuwait Oil Company' [‎140r] (284/620)

P.Z.311/33.
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. ,
WHITEHALL,S.W.l.
iyth January 1933.
Confidential .
My dear Warner,
We were much interested in the correspondence between Dliphant
and Cadman enclosed in your official letter of 14th January, Alo.
E 25/12/91 about the proposed Kuwait oil concession. We are not,
however, quite clear as to the precise nature of the arrangement
which Cadman has in view and while the discussions are apparently
still at a very early stage, and the Shaikh’s decision as between
the Eastern and General Syndicate and the Anglo Persian Oil Company
will vitally affect matters, we shall be very grateful for some
further information about it.
2. The important point is the nature of the 50-50 basis which
apparently figures in the discussions. Does this mean merely that
in the event of the Shaikh deciding to grant the Kuwait concession
to the Anglo Persian Oil Company, the Anglo Persian Oil Company
and the Mellon group might reach an understanding under which
distribution of oil won from Kuwait would be on a 50-50 basis, the
actual exploitation of the concession remaining entirely in
British hands? (If this is correct consideration might, I suppose
have to be given to the securing to His Majesty’s Government of a
right of pre-emption over the whole supply in the event of war -
though that is not primarily an 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. point).
3. Alternatively, is there any question in any circumstances of
the Anglo Persian Oil Company contemplating:
(a) the concession ceasing to be under bona fide
majority British control;
(b) the introduction of American personnel to develop
the Kuwait concession, or the.transfer of exploitation
of that concession to American interests ?
4. ...
C.F.A.Warner, Esq.,
FOREIGN OFFICE.