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File 2249/1915 Pt 4 ‘Oil: Mesopotamia & Persia. (General File) 1920–24’ [82r] (163/484)
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.
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14867/175/44}
i 8 545*
P&imumt BWABTHBBT.
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2, 'iueen Anne’s Gate buildings,
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26th. ^ovemher 192c.
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In reply to your letter of the 29th. September, B 11823/175/44
1 am directed by Mr# Aellaway to request you to inform Sari
curzon of kedleston that a representative systeiu of regulations
in connection with the oil-mining industry ie to be found in the
lining Laws of Trinidad Land Regulations, .tart V, under date 24th.
December, 1917. A model form of Licence and Lease has been
prepared 1 or issue thereunder, copies of which are attached for
the information of the high Commissioner in Palestine.
2 . It should be noted, however, that the figures quoted for
Royalty in the model Licence and Lease, although adequate at the
time of their inception, now require revision in view of the
greatly enaanced value oi crude oil# As Lord (Jurzon is aware the
question of royalty under petroleum leases has been the subject
of recent correspondence ending with foreign Office letter of the
25th Lot ember, R 14416/1331/44.
a# The development of a petroleum field is conveniently divided
into the following stages
a) Tho exploratory period, during which time a
geological survey of the area would be conducted. This
pex*iod might be fixed at one or two years though in
exceptional cases where the survey was attended with special
difficulties this time might be somewhat expended.
b) The prospecting period (say two years} when selected
areas which have been found to contain suitable geological
structure and to exhibit surface evidences of petroleum,
are tested by drilling#
c} The leasing period during which the petroleum deposits
are
THR URBiSR-SiSCRKTARy Of &TATM,
furldlGL ULRICA.
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’ [82r] (163/484), 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_100076914801.0x0000af> [accessed 19 July 2026]
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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