'File 5/2 III Kuwait Neutral Zone' [‎201r] (406/779)

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Company 1 s operations in Koweit had been equally
unsuccessful. They had drilled a well of 8,000 feet
on the north side of the hey, but had only found small
indications of oil in quite unremunenative quantities.
They were now drilling south of K 0 weit, and, if they
found oil there, it might be an important indication of
oil in the zone. But there was nothing to go on as yet.
Mr. Skliros then gave me an interesting account of the oil
position in the rest of Arabia, which I am noting
separately.
3. Mr. Skliros then asked whether, if his Company
went forward with this proposal, and spent £50,000 on
taking over the Standard Oil Company's option, there was
anything which His Majesty’s Government could do to help
them.
4. I said that I wished to make it clear at the
outset that, although we should welcome anything they
could do to help Ibn Baud, and should like to see them
operating in the Kov/eit neutral zone, we could not take
the responsibility of influencing them against their own
commercial judgment. It might well be that the whole
transaction would prove entirely unremunerative, and if
they had then acted on our suggestion, they would no doubt
regard us as partly responsible for any losses they
incurred. we clearly could not take such a responsibility.
Mr. Skliros said he quite understood this, and that any
decision which his Company took would be taken entirely
on their own responsibility, and on commercial grounds.
What/