File 2249/1915 Pt 2 ‘Oil: Mesopotamia and Persia: oil; Sir J Cowan's deputation & Standard Oil Co.’ [‎46r] (100/598)

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Correspondence and other papers relating to oil exploration and the acquisition of oil concessions in Mesopotamia [Iraq] (and to a lesser degree, Persia [Iran]) by oil companies. The companies involved are: the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC); the Shell Transport Company (STC, also referred to as the Anglo-Saxon Oil Company), led by chief negotiator John Steven Cowans; the Standard Oil Company of New York (SOC). The correspondence covers: Cowans’s trip to Mesopotamia on behalf of STC; reports of SOC geologists to Mesopotamia; the British Government’s decision that all oil exploration and efforts at obtaining concessions in Mesopotamia should be stopped while the country remains under military administration; the retention of STC experts for oil exploration for military purposes; APOC exploration in the Pasht-i-Kuh region of Persia, and the company’s negotiations with the local Vali (or Wali), rather than the Persian Government; the refusal by the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to authorise visas to British SOC representatives wishing to travel to Mesopotamia; suspicions amongst British Government officials that SOC were supporting and financing anti-British sentiment in Mesopotamia; the withdrawal of oil representatives and geologists in Mesopotamia from August 1920, in response to the social unrest and anti-British sentiment spreading across the country (the 1920 Iraqi revolt).

The volume’s principal correspondents are: the Civil Commissioner in Baghdad, Arnold Talbot Wilson; Foreign Office officials; 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. officials.

The file 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 volume (294 folios)

Arrangement

The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the volume.

The subject 2249 (Oil: Mesopotamia & Persia) consists of 3 volumes, IOR/L/PS/10/555-557. The volumes are divided into 4 parts, with parts 1 and 2 comprising one volume, and parts 3 and 4 comprising the third volume.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the first folio with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 292; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. A previous foliation sequence between ff 165-292, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out. The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers, nor does it include the leading and ending flyleaves.

Written in

English in Latin script

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