![File 2249/1915 Pt 4 ‘Oil: Mesopotamia & Persia. (General File) 1920–24’ [‎227r] (453/484)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000000419.0x0001c4/IOR_L_PS_10_557_0466.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "File 2249/1915 Pt 4 ‘Oil: Mesopotamia & Persia. (General File) 1920–24’ [‎227r] (453/484)")
File 2249/1915 Pt 4 ‘Oil: Mesopotamia & Persia. (General File) 1920–24’ [227r] (453/484)
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.
Copy
COPY OF TELEGRnM RECEIVED.
£LGfiET„
B 4
Copies to
Pet. Ex*
27/7/18
J 4
A i
I ' J
From- u.O.C. Mesopotataia
r i0;.- War Office, repeated C. in C. India
X.620 July 27th, Your 32012 July 23rd. In order to
obtain a .supply of petrol and cnade oil at Khanakin for
the use of convoys on the L.of C. and of the railway
respectively I recently asked the A.F.O.C. to send an
oil expert to report on the possibility of working the
Chiah Surkh oil wells and also to report on the possibility
of working the oil at Naft KJpana. On July loth the expert
who was sent reported against working the Chiah Surkh oil
wells as the Company’s plant there has been damaged beyond
repair by tne tribes and lurks and as there are in any case
uncertain (? group omitted). He recommended a test boring
at Naft Khana to be connecuted to Khanakin by a pipe line
if oil be struclg. With the Civil Commissioner’s concurrence
I have authorised the Company to undertake this work with
such assistance as the needs of the force will allow. I
understand from the Civil Commissioner that the Company
regard both Naft Khaaa and Chiah Surkh as being within the
limits of their concession from Persia as confirmed to them
by Turks when certain territories were tranferred from
.
Persia to Turkey. In view of the stipulations now made by
the Foreign Office I would propose to instruct the Company
that an account of all expenditure incurred on the above
operations
1
i
rV
■
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
Use and share this item
- Share this item
File 2249/1915 Pt 4 ‘Oil: Mesopotamia & Persia. (General File) 1920–24’ [227r] (453/484), 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_100076914803.0x000041> [accessed 21 July 2026]
https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100076914803.0x000041
Copy and paste the code below into your web page where you would like to embed the image.
<meta charset="utf-8"><a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100076914803.0x000041">File 2249/1915 Pt 4 ‘Oil: Mesopotamia & Persia. (General File) 1920–24’ [‎227r] (453/484)</a> <a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100076914803.0x000041"> <img src="https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000000419.0x0001c4/IOR_L_PS_10_557_0466.jp2/full/!280,240/0/default.jpg" alt="" /> </a>
This record has a IIIF manifest available as follows. If you have a compatible viewer you can drag the icon to load it.https://www.qdl.qa/en/iiif/81055/vdc_100000000419.0x0001c4/manifestOpen in Universal viewerOpen in Mirador viewerMore options for embedding images
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