'F 80 File 82/34 I APOC Concession' [‎219r] (382/436)

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THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY'S GOVERNMENT
PERSIA.
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CONFIDENTIAL.
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December 19, 1932.
S ection 1.
[E 6732/3880/34]
No. 1.
Mr. Cadogan to Secretary-General, League of Nations.—{Communicated by
United Kingdom Delegate; Received in Foreign Office, December 19.)
United Kingdom Delegation,
Sir, Geneva, December 16, 1932.
WITH reference to Sir John Simon's letter of the 14th December, I have
the honour to transmit to you herewith a copy of a memorandum stating the
views of His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom on the Persian
Government's action in purporting to cancel the concession held by the Anglo-
Persian Oil Company, a British company.
2. I am to request that you will circulate copies of this memorandum
urgently to the members of the Council.
I am, &c.
ALEXANDER CADOGAN.
Enclosure in No. 1.
Memorandum by His Majesty''s Government in the United Kingdom.
THE circumstances which have given rise to the dispute between the
Imperial Government of Persia and themselves, which His Majesty's Govern
ment in the United Kingdom ha^ found it necessary to bring before the Council
under article 15, are as follows :—
2. By an agreement signed at Tehran on the 28th May, 1901 (see annex),,
the Government of His Imperial Majesty the Shah of Persia granted to
William Knox D'Arcy, a British subject, a concession for the special and
exclusive right to prospect for, exploit and sell oil and other substances within
the whole territory of the Persian Empire, with the exception of five named
provinces. The concession, which was signed by His Imperial Majesty the then
reigning Shah of Persia, signed and sealed by his Prime Minister and counter-
sealed by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Mines, was granted
for a period of sixtv years from the date of the agreement, i.e., up to May 1961.
3. Under the concession (article 9), the concessionnaire was authorised to
constitute one or more companies for the exploitation of the coiKiession.
Accordingly the " First Exploitation Company," a company constituted under
the law of England, with its registered office in London, was registered on the
21st Mav 1903 and, oil having been first discovered m commercial quantities m
the concession'area in 1908, the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (Limited) a
company constituted under the law of England, and having its registered office
in London, was formed for the purpose of taking over the concession and
assuming all the rights and obligations of the concessionnaire thereunder The
Anglo-Persian Oil Company was registered on the 14th April, 1909 and the
concession and all the rights and obligations ot the concessionnaire thereunder
were duly transferred to it. Accordingly, the Anglo-Persian Oi Company is
and has been since 1909 the holder of the concession granted m 1901, and has
been recognised as such by all successive Persian Governments.
oeen recog and his associates spent some seven years prospecting the
territorv covered bv the concession, and expended thereon some hundreds of
thousand of pounds before the existence of oil m commercial quantities was
proved The Persian Government was not asked to take, and, in fact, did not
take anv part of the risk involved in thus proving and developing the oi
resources of Persia, and has at no time furnished any part of the capital
required.
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