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'CONFIDENTIAL 86/31 VOL. B.64 OIL IN ITS RELATION TO THE MIDDLE EAST' [11r] (26/578)
The record is made up of 1 volume (285 folios). It was created in 11 Oct 1940-22 Aug 1945. 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
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- 3 -
IvIEMORANDUM.
(1) From time to time since the conclusion of the last war
various geologists have endeavoured to estimate the world’s
exploitable reserves of natural oil, particularly in the U.S.A.
which, so far, has held the predominant position amongst
producing countries. Many of the earlier estimates which
tended to take a very despondent view of the outlook, have been
entirely falsified by later discoveries and there has consequently
been ”a disinclination on the part of many to trust the common
Anticipation of a coming shortage of oil, a disbelief which gains
w strength from the large potential over-production at the present
’’day”. /
(2) However, during the last 12 to 15 years there has been
world wide activity in the search for new oil areas, and this
search has been greatly aided by a steady advance in scientific
knowledge and engineering technique. Exploration and
exploitation have alike proceeded apace, and hypothesis has in
many cases been either confirmed or disproved. Knowledge has
advanced its frontiers.
(3) The range of actual and potential discovery is still
doubtless very great, but the statistical approach to the
question of world’s reserves involves less speculation and
conjecture than in earlier days; and a correspondingly increased
significance can therefore be attached to the view that
(a) World reserves of oil will, v/ithin a few decades, begin
to prove inadequate to world demands and the effect of
a prospective shortage will be felt internationally
long before the situation becomes acute. 0
(b) Those countries will first feel that effect - to a greater
or less extent according to their degree of
industrialism - which possess neither indigenous
resources nor the means to control supplies from
producing areas under their influence.
(c) The undeveloped resources of (l) the U.S.S.R. and (2) the
MIDDLE EAST, are of exceptional magnitude and may
therefore be expected to play an increasingly important
part in world policy.
(4) The purpose of this memorandum will be sufficiently served
without recourse to a mass of statistics, or to elaborate
quotations from geological sources, but one statement is attached
which furnishes certain figures relating to the main producing
areas, and their contribution to world market exports, during
the 18 years preceding the present war period. Reference to
certain of these figures will be made later.
/ Dr. G.M. Lees. ’’The Search for Oil”. Geographical Journal
January 1940.
0 So far as g^)logical views are concerned the
writer
The lowest of the four classes into which East India Company civil servants were divided. A Writer’s duties originally consisted mostly of copying documents and book-keeping.
has recently
had the Opportunity of discussing the subject with
Dr. Lees - a geologist of wide experience, who has given
much attention to the subject of world reserves. On the
basis of a purely arithmetical equation Dr. Lees considers
that the time/reserve ratio might be as high as 8 to
10 decades. This estimate, though greatly in excess of, and
therefore much more encouraging than, most of those hitherto
current, in no way vitiates the general argument and
conclusions of this memorandum which are based on the
extreme geographical disparity between needs and resources.
- v w, - I-
About this item
- Content
The volume comprises correspondence and discussions regarding the economic and political situation in relation to oil in the Middle East during and immediately after the Second World War. At the centre of the discussions are talks which took place in Washington DC between US and UK government officials looking at the global importance of oil, which focused particularly on oil in the Middle East.
The talks concluded with the production of a memorandum of understanding which was published 8 August 1944 as the Agreement on Petroleum between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, otherwise known as the Anglo-American Oil Agreement (1945).
Also included in the volume is correspondence between the Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. (Charles Geoffrey Prior), the Secretary to the Government of India, External Affairs Department (Olaf Kirkpatrick Caroe), the 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. , and His Majesty’s Minister at Jeddah (Stanley Jordan) regarding two proposed pipelines. The first being the ‘trans-arabian pipeline’ which it was proposed would link the Middle East to the Mediterranean. The proposal was initially postponed owing to heavy criticism of it in the United States press but was later taken up by the Arabian American Oil Company (ARAMCO). The second proposal from the Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO) and the California Arabian Standard Oil Company (CASOC, later renamed ARAMCO) was for a pipeline to take crude oil from Dhahran [Aẓ-Ẓahrān], Saudi Arabia to the BAPCO refinery at Bahrain.
Also included is correspondence between the Chief Local Representative for BAPCO (Milton H Lipp, Ward P Anderson) and the Adviser to the Government of Bahrain (Charles Dalrymple Belgrave) regarding possible sites for the pipeline and the reservation of required land. Further discussion centred on the question of the eastern frontier of Saudi Arabia, which was in dispute, and whether His Majesty’s Government should look to tackle the matter at that time with the Saudi Arab Government or wait until the progress of the oil companies required its resolution. Jabal Naksh and Khor-al-Odaid [Khawr al ‘Udayd], which were claimed by Qatar and Abu Dhabi respectively, and whose claims were supported by His Majesty’s Government but contested by Saudi Arabia were discussed as being key areas in the frontier dispute.
Another matter discussed in the volume was a visit paid by the Mission of the Petroleum Reserves Corporation to the Middle East. The Mission’s purpose was to review resources of petroleum in the Middle East and its itinerary included visits to Kuwait, Dhahran, and Bahrain. The mission was headed by Everette Lee Degoyler and also included the eminent geologists and petroleum experts Dr George Martin Lees, William Embry Wrather, and John Herhold Murrell.
Other matters touched on in the volume include a request by ARAMCO to undertake a hydrographic survey of the coast line of the Kuwait Neutral Zone; the possibility of resuming oil field production in Qatar and Kuwait provided the necessary equipment could be obtained from the USA; articles published in American journals and newspapers regarding the global oil situation and oil in the Middle East; and a visit paid by Major Frank Holmes to Kuwait in 1944.
Also included in the volume are a number of notes and memorandums relating to oil in the Middle East:
- notes produced at an oil conference in Cairo in 1944 which described oil production in Bahrain and Kuwait, they contained a number of inaccuracies and were re-written by the Political Agents for Bahrain and Kuwait with assistance from the Chief Local Representatives of the Bahrain Petroleum Company and the Kuwait Oil Company;
- The future of oil in its relation to the Middle East ; memorandum produced by Arthur Charles Hearn, Admiralty, 11 October 1940 (ff 9-21);
- Note on present oil position in Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. by Commodore John Montagu Howson, Senior Naval Officer, Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. (ff 103-104 );
- Memorandum on the oil concessions in the Arab Sheikhdoms of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , by the External Department, 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. , 13 Mar 1944 (ff 126-134);
- A survey of the oil resources in the Middle East (With map and graph), Research Department, Foreign Office, 28 Feb 1945 (ff 239-250);
- Iraq Oil (ff 257-267).
A series of file notes which were maintained as a record of the correspondence in the volume can be found at folios 272-283.
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (285 folios)
- Arrangement
The volume contains a table of contents on folio 5 comprising of subject headings and page references. The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the front to the rear of the file.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the main foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 287; 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. An additional foliation sequence is present in parallel between ff 7-270; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled, and are located in the same position as the main sequence. A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
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- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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- Reference
- IOR/R/15/1/700
- Title
- 'CONFIDENTIAL 86/31 VOL. B.64 OIL IN ITS RELATION TO THE MIDDLE EAST'
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, 2r:25v, 27r:56v, 59r:59v, 61r:87v, 89r:93v, 95r:119v, 122r:122v, 124r:155v, 160r:161v, 163r:167v, 169r:173v, 175r:176v, 177v, 178v, 179v, 180v:182v, 191r:195v, 197r:200v, 202r:210v, 216r:216v, 220r:247v, 249r:286v, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence