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Coll 6/48 'Oil: Concessions in Saudi Arabia. (Hasa)' [460v] (922/1153)
The record is made up of 1 file (574 folios). It was created in 8 Dec 1923-11 Jul 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
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
as provided for in this agreement, the Company and the concession will be
exempted from all direct and indirect taxes, dues, charges and fees (including
customs dues on export and import). It is understood that this privilege does
not include the sale of products inside the country and the personal requirements
. V 1 . 6 mem bers of the staff of the Company. The Company is not allowed to sell
witiiin the country any of the tools and material imported without payment of
customs dues except after payment of such dues.
Article 19.
It is naturally understood that the Company has the right to use all the
mea d| s a . n( * facilities which it may think necessary for its work and which shall
enable it to fulfil the requirements of this concession, and which comprise
other affairs such as buildings, using roads, camps, fittings and all roads
tor communications, and to erect and employ machines and other means connected
witii the digging of wells or transport, or storage, or manufacture, or exportation
ot petrol and its products or any other thing which may have connexion with the
camps, buildings and the premises to be engaged by the employees of the Company.
J he Company has the right to build and use cisterns, reservoirs and basins and
also has the right to build piers, quays and lines for shipments and to use all
other means for the transport of employees, machines and petrol and its products.
n any ^ase, it is understood that the question of employing aeroplanes within the
inmts of the country will be subject to another separate agreement. The Company
has the right to procure, take and use water and also has the right to take and
use any water which belongs to the Government for the purpose of carrying out
the work m connexion with the project provided that such action must not
t arise harm to irrigation or deprive land, houses and watering-places of sufficient
water from time to time^ The Company has the right also to make use of any
natural products which belong to the Government, such as sand, timber, stones
June, gypsum and other materials of the same nature. Government employees
and agents (during performance of their official duties) will have the right to
use the means of transport and communications which will be established by the
0111 panv, provided that such action should not hinder or embarrass the affairs
of the Company indicated in this agreement, and should not cause the Company
any material loss. The commandeering of the means of transport and communi'-
cations belonging to the Company by the Government during the occurrence of
national trouble will entitle the Company to reasonable compensation for any loss
" hlc ' h 11 “y undergo or for any harm which may occur to the works and establish-
ments of the Company or hinder or embarrass its works.
Article 20.
The concession provided for in this agreement shall be manao-ed and
super\ ised by American persons, who will engage so far as possible persons from
amongst the subjects of the Saudi Arab Government and in so far as it is oossible
itCwi 7 PanV t0 t , nnd capable and fit employees from amongst Saudi subiects
it shall not engage the subjects of any other Government. The Company should
of einplols^ 118 “ ^ 111 this withTe tL=
Article 21.
, i The ^ ov ernment reserves the right of prospecting in the authorised zone for
other products and materials apart from those provided for in this agreement
by the wells and establishments of the Comnanv nrnvidprl that ,i,;
is reserved by the Government should not S L'ng^s^fnted to^™v
and should not expose its work to danger and nrovirUH n om P an y
p*i ■” lt„ G wh“
Company may undergo on account of the exercise of that right Whenever the
rights reserved by the Government are granted, the person in possession of this
concession will be bound by the provisions of this article. P ossession ot this
Article 22.
, , Th ®. «Of>-nment authorise the Company to acquire from landowners any
and which the Company may suggest is necessary for its work in connexion with
this concession, provided that the Company pay to the landowner a reasonable
About this item
- Content
This file relates to oil concessions in Saudi Arabia, particularly the Hasa [Al Hasa] concession between the Government of Saudi Arabia and the Standard Oil Company of California (SoCal). It includes discussion of the following:
- Oil negotiations in Saudi Arabia during March and April 1933, and the reported involvement of Major Frank Holmes in negotiations relating to the Kuwait (also spelled Koweit in the file) [Saudi-Kuwaiti] neutral zone.
- Details of an agreement for the oil concession relating to the Hasa region of Saudi Arabia, made between the Government of Saudi Arabia and SoCal (signed on 27 May 1933), and assigned by SoCal to its subsidiary, the California Arabian Standard Oil Company (Casoc).
- British concerns regarding a request made by Casoc via the United States Embassy for its aeroplane to be permitted to fly over Kuwait and Bahrain, as part of a survey of the region relating to its oil concession.
- Reports that Casoc may be interested in exhanging the southern half of its Hasa concession for land further west, and the effect that this might have on Britain's negotiations with Ibn Saud [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd].
- Reports of the discovery of oil in Hasa in 1935, and the discovery of commercial quantities of oil there in March 1938.
- Reports that Casoc is considering the possibility of laying a pipeline from Hasa to Bahrain.
- Casoc's oil rights in the Kuwait neutral zone.
- The progress of operations carried out in Hasa by Casoc, including the status of its wells at Dhahran.
- An account of a visit made by the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. at Bahrain (Hugh Weightman) to Casoc's site at Dhahran as well as to other areas in the region, in May 1939.
- Details of a loan from Casoc to the Government of Saudi Arabia.
- Reports of Casoc having taken the decision to construct a refinery at Ras Tanura.
The file features the following principal correspondents: 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. ; the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. , Bahrain; the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. , Kuwait; the Secretary of State for the Colonies; His Majesty's Chargé d’Affaires, Jedda; the His Majesty's Minister at Jedda; officials of the Foreign Office, 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. , the War Office, the Air Ministry, and the Petroleum Department; representatives of Casoc.
In addition to correspondence the file includes the following:
- Copies of the oil agreement and a supplementary agreement between the Government of Saudi Arabia and the Standard Oil Company of California, dated 1933 and 1939 respectively.
- Extracts from Bahrain and Kuwait intelligence reports.
- The minutes of an interdepartmental meeting held at the Colonial Office on 26 April 1933, concerning British interests in oil in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. (notably Kuwait, Bahrain, Hasa in Saudi Arabia, and the Kuwaiti neutral zone).
- Draft and final copies of a War Office report entitled 'Brief Summary of the Oil Situation in the Middle East, November 1934'.
The date range of the volume is 1923-1945 but only a handful of items date from before 1933. These include copies of 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. 's correspondence with the Secretary of State for the Colonies and the Foreign Secretary to the Government of India respectively, which date from 1923 to 1926 and concern the possibility of oil development both in Qatar and on the Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. .
The file includes three dividers which give a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. These are placed at the back of the correspondence (folios 2-4).
- Extent and format
- 1 file (574 folios)
- Arrangement
The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the file.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 575; 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, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/12/2115
- Title
- Coll 6/48 'Oil: Concessions in Saudi Arabia. (Hasa)'
- Pages
- 7r:11r, 11v:14v, 61v:64v, 97v:101v, 148r:149v, 235r:243v, 250r:251v, 423r:439v, 458v:462v
- Author
- Unknown
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- The copyright status is unknown. Please contact copyright@bl.uk with any information you have regarding this item.