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File 2249/1915 Pt 4 ‘Oil: Mesopotamia & Persia. (General File) 1920–24’ [180r] (359/484)
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.
newspapers had unfortunately secured a good deal of information
which would have tho effect of seriously prejudicing consideration
ot the matter. They had not only got hold of the recommendations
*
of the Imperial Policy Committee "but also of the provisions of
the Agreement with Prance which had just been reached at San
Remo. It was agreed that tho matter should be brought to the
notice of the Prime Minister with a view to ascertaining who
had been responsible for the leakage of this secret information.
It was pointed out that the position with the United
States would be aggravated as the matter country would contend
that it was as much entitled to participate in the oil industry
pf Mesopotamia as Prance.
With regard to item 2 on the Agenda, Sir George Beilby
said that although the information which had been compiled as to
the shale position in the United States and Canada was very
valuable, it was disappointing in that it showed that no
operations had yet been carried out on a commercial scale. He
thought it might be advisable to prepare a memorandum showing the
Experience of the Scottish industry and giving information as to
the costs of working &c, which should be of assistance in showing
whether oils produced by the distillation of shales of different
countries would be able to compete with petroleum products® It
was agreed that the Petroleum Department should prepare this
memorandum with the help of the Fuel Research Board.
Mr, Kellaway thought that the' views of the Canadian
Government should be obtained so as to ascertain what steps it
was taking to encourage this form of oil production. It seemed
very desirable that the Petroleum Department should send a
representative to the United States and Canada in order to discuss
this and other subjects and obtain first hand information® It
was agreed that the memorandum should first be prepared and then
the
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’ [180r] (359/484), 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_100076914802.0x0000ab> [accessed 29 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