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File 2249/1915 Pt 4 ‘Oil: Mesopotamia & Persia. (General File) 1920–24’ [8r] (15/484)
The record is made up of 1 item (242 folios). It was created in 1 Nov 1919-20 May 1924. 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.
(Hoy ember 21)
. jPY .
9) •
< 0 . 1 .
'Sari -''uraon to
lotion 2*
> f'T^ M
Davis•
Forelipi Office,
Ho Yeeib e r 21, 1919.
My dear iteba$3&&or,
:rii© question of permitting investigations or
operations for oil in the ©caupied enemy territories of f&leati&e
and Mesopotamia t© wMeh your .taco. lMM|f all Med in your recent •
conversation with me of Urn Slot ultimo has had careful
o on oi cie rati on, end X now send you ay promised reply*
4s regards operation, that is the active development
ol oilfields, building of roads ho*, the view which has been
held about economic questions in general affecting occupied
enemy territories is this:*
That the provisional c liar actor of the military
occupation does not warrant the taking of decisions by the
occupying ’Power in matters concerning the future economic
development of the country.
Accordingly, our policy has been to prohibit the
initiation of my new undertakings, or the exercise by
ooncesaionnaires of rights, which they may have acquired, but
not, taken adv^itage of, before the war.
fhis view has equally governed our attitude in
regard to investigationa and surveys which -rivals individuals
or firms may wish to undertake in ooou :-ied enemy territories, »
and our action in prohibiting this class of operations has been
further ruled by the principle that nothing should be done which
might in any way compromise the future authorities of the
country, to whom, wo consider, should be left the decisions as
to the methods md measures necessary to bo adopted for
ensuring
About this item
- Content
The item comprises correspondence and other papers concerning oil exploration in territories that were part of the Ottoman Empire prior to the First World War. The item includes: reports on exploratory drilling being undertaken by the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC) at Naft Khana [Nafţ Khānah], in territory transferred from Persia [Iran] to Mesopotamia [Iraq] in 1914 in response to recommendations made by the Turco-Persian Boundary Commission; the question of whether APOC drilling activity at Naft Khana should be paid for out of military funds, given Britain’s military occupation and administration of Mesopotamia during and after the First World War; oil concessions in Mesopotamia in relation to the San Remo Oil Agreement (1920), signed between the British and French Governments; a 1920 survey report by the APOC geologist, William Robert Smellie, entitled ‘Oil in relation to Fars anticlines’ (ff 132-139), and a response by the Officiating Director of the Geological Survey of India, Edwin Hall Pascoe, that disagrees with Smellie’s findings (ff 100-101); British Government policy on mining and oil prospecting in Palestine; and correspondence exchanged between representatives of the Government of the United States and the Foreign Office, relating to the refusal to permit American companies to conduct oil surveys in Mesopotamia.
The item’s principal correspondence are: the Foreign Office; HM Petroleum Executive, the Civil Commissioner in Baghdad, Arnold Talbot Wilson; and representatives of the Government of the United States.
The item 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 item (242 folios)
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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File 2249/1915 Pt 4 ‘Oil: Mesopotamia & Persia. (General File) 1920–24’ [8r] (15/484), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/557/2, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100076914801.0x00001b> [accessed 18 April 2024]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/10/557/2
- Title
- File 2249/1915 Pt 4 ‘Oil: Mesopotamia & Persia. (General File) 1920–24’
- Pages
- 1r:6v, 8r:15v, 19r:28r, 30r:47v, 49r:56v, 59r:60v, 62r:63r, 65r:65v, 68r:74v, 77r:105v, 107r:131v, 140r:146v, 149r:163v, 174r:187v, 190r:190v, 193r:198v, 200r:201v, 203r:212v, 214r:229v, 231r:242v
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence