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File 3877/1912 Pt 1 ‘Turkey in Asia: oil concessions’ [88r] (184/834)
The record is made up of 1 volume (412 folios). It was created in 17 Jul 1904-4 Sep 1913. It was written in English and French. 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.
[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty’s Govemmpn*. ]
[A]
ASIATIC TURKEY AND ARABIA.
-t)
CONFIDENTIAL.
[June 2 1 .
Section 2.
128398] No. 1.
Board of Trade to Foreign Office.—(Received June 21.)
(Secret.)
Sir, Board of Trade, June 20, 1913.
WITH reference to your letter of the 22nd May and other correspondence
relative to the Mesopotamian oil concession, I am directed by the Board of Trade to
state, for Sir E. Grey’s information, that, in consequence of informal inter-departmental
communications, a conference was held at this office on Thursday, the 5th June, when
in addition to representatives ol this Department, the Foreign Office, and the Admiralty,
Sir H. Babington Smith and Mr. C. Green way were present on behalf of their respective
groups.
At that conference emphasis was laid by the departmental representatives on the
advisability of a combination of the two competing groups, and the probability that
should such a combination not be realised the oil concession in question either would not
be granted by the Turkish Government or would fall into the hands of a third party.
Sir H. Babington Smith and Mr. Greenway both recognised the force of these
considerations, but a lengthy discussion failed to arrive at any basis for a combination
which would be acceptable to both parties.
Mr. Green way stated that his group attached most importance to securing for the
Anglo-Persian Oil Company the marketing of the oil and other products; otherwise
they feared that the marketing would be done by the Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Company,,
which is a member of the syndicate represented by Sir H. Babington Smith, and is
already in competition with the Anglo-Persian Oil Company and endeavouring to force
it into the international combination of which the Anglo-Saxon Company forms part.
If the Anglo-Persian Company could, by a preliminary agreement, be assured of the
marketing, Mr. Greenway’s group would be prepared to take only 33J per cent, in the
proposed joint company ; otherwise they must insist on such a holding as would give
them control.
Sir H. Babington Smith’s proposal was to the effect that his group should have a
75 per cent, share in the company to be formed, thus leaving only 25 per cent, to the
group represented by Mr. Greenway, and that no arrangement whatever should be made
as to the marketing of the output until the producing stage should be actually reached.
He was not prepared to undertake, on behalf of the National Bank of Turkey, to support
any claim by the Anglo-Persian Oil Company to the marketing, but held that the
proposed company must be left entirely free to take whatever course it deemed likely to
serve its interests best.
After various suggestions had been made as to possible ways of adjusting the claims
of the two parties, it was decided that the conference could not carry the matter further
for the time being, but Sir H. Babington Smith and Mr. Greenway undertook to discuss
the matter between themselves in the light of the considerations urged and suggestions
put forward at the conference. The Board of Trade were subsequently informed that
Sir H. Babington Smith and Mr. Greenway had not found it possible to arrive at any
agreement.
It appeared to the Board that, having regard to the reasonable claims and interests
of both parties, an equitable arrangement might be reached on the basis of
1. The apportionment of capital in a new company equally between the two
groups claiming the concession ; and .
2. The apportionment of the output between the two groups, lor marketing
purposes, in approximately equal proportions with some allocation ol markets.
This suggestion was conveyed to Mr. Greenway, who, in a letter dated the 12th June,
accepted it in principle on behalf of his group, and made some detailed proposals as to
The Board then caused the suggested basis of an arrangement to be communicated
[2950 x—2] B
About this item
- Content
The volume comprises copies of correspondence, memoranda and other papers, produced in response to the prospect of an oil company backed by German capital taking control of future oil concessions in Mesopotamia [Iraq], and the implications that such concessions might have on the Anglo-Persian Oil Company’s (APOC) own oil concession in neighbouring Persia. The prospect of foreign capital exploiting Mesopotamia’s oil resources was a particular cause for concern amongst senior officials in the Admiralty, who were dependent on APOC’s oil production for their fuel supplies, and the Foreign Office. The more peripheral interest of such a concession in Mesopotamia to the Government of India and 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. is reflected in the volume’s papers.
The volume’s principal correspondents are: the Secretary to the Admiralty (Sir William Graham Greene); Secretary at the Foreign Office (Sir Louis du Pan Mallet); Secretary of the Political Department at 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. (Sir Arthur Hirtzel); Permanent Under-Secretary of State at 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. (Sir Thomas William Holderness); the Managing Director of APOC (Charles Greenway).
Subjects covered include:
- correspondence dated late 1912, chiefly between representatives of the Admiralty and Foreign Office, airing concerns over the implications of exploratory oil concessions agreed for Mesopotamia between a consortium including the National Bank of Turkey, Shell (referred to in the volume as either the Shell Transport Company or the Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Company) and Deutsche Bank, to APOC oil exploration in Persia;
- discussion of the Government of India’s interest in maintaining an independent APOC, and whether the Government of India should not invest in APOC, including a proposal that it purchase oil from APOC for use on the Indian railways, or contribute to the purchase of fuel supplies on behalf of the Royal Navy;
- through February 1913 to April 1913, diplomatic negotiations (including some correspondence in French) seeking to secure concessionary agreement for oil exploration in the Mesopotamian vilayets of Mosul and Baghdad for APOC (based on earlier arrangements made between the Ottoman Government and William Knox D’Arcy on APOC’s behalf) against the competing claims of the National Bank of Turkey consortium, and oil exploration rights outlined in the railway concession held by the Société du Chemin de Fer ottoman d’Anatolie (Anatolian Railway Company);
- between May 1913 and July 1913, with the likelihood of APOC not being given exclusive oil concessionary rights to Mesopotamia, negotiations to secure ‘absorption’ (with a British-controlling interest) of APOC with the National Bank of Turkey or its partners, Shell and Deutsche Bank.
The core correspondence in the volume dates between September 1912 and September 1913. The earlier date indicated in the volume’s date range refers to a copy of a contract between Turkish Government’s Ministry of the Civil List and the Société du Chemin de Fer ottoman d’Anatolie, dated 17 July 1904 (ff 147-148).
The volume includes a divider which gives the subject (Turkey in Asia: oil concessions) and part number (1), the year the subject file was opened (1912), and a list of correspondence references contained in that part by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence (f 1).
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (412 folios)
- Arrangement
The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the volume.
The subject 3877 (Turkey in Asia: oil concessions) consists of 3 volumes, IOR/L/PS/10/300-302. The volumes are divided into 5 parts, with parts 1 and 2 comprising one volume each, and parts 3, 4 and 5 comprising a third volume.
- Physical characteristics
The foliation sequence commences with 1 and terminates with 411. The front and back covers, along with the leading and ending flyleaves have not been foliated.
- Written in
- English and French in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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File 3877/1912 Pt 1 ‘Turkey in Asia: oil concessions’ [88r] (184/834), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/300, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100028928516.0x0000b9> [accessed 6 March 2025]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/10/300
- Title
- File 3877/1912 Pt 1 ‘Turkey in Asia: oil concessions’
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, i-r:i-v, 1r:10r, 13r:13v, 16r:17v, 19r:23v, 25r:28v, 31r:31v, 52r:55v, 57r:59v, 62r:88r, 90v:92v, 95r:100v, 103r:103v, 109r:146v, 148v:151v, 154r:155v, 157v:162v, 163v:175v, 177r:186v, 188r:191v, 193r:193v, 194v:202v, 205r:218v, 220r:223v, 224v:235v, 236v:247v, 249r:249v, 251r:252v, 255r:274v, 275v:282v, 284r:288v, 292r:302v, 306r:308v, 313r:316v, 319r:329v, 333r:335v, 336v:338v, 339v:353r, 354r:372v, 375r:392v, 396r:411v, ii-r:ii-v, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence