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File 3877/1912 Pt 1 ‘Turkey in Asia: oil concessions’ [285r] (578/834)
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
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[This Docnmsnt is the Property of His Brit.a.n-nic M a i P g t.v’ g Government.]
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[B]
• ASIATIC TURKEY AND ARABIA.
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c fi. ^
! *3 ,
[January 1, 1913.J
CONFIDENTIAL.
Section 1.
[16] No. 1.
Sir 0. Lowther to Sir Edward Grey.—(Received January 1 , 19]3.)
(No. 1125. Confidential.)
ki r > Constantinople, December 28, 1912.
I HAVE the honour to forward herewith copy of a memorandum from the
commercial attache to this embassy, reporting on the subject of the rights of the
Germans to the Mesopotamian oil-fields.
I have, &c.
GERARD LOWTHER,
Enclosure in No. 1.
Memorandum by Mr. Weakley.
(Confidential.)
I SAW Mr. Edwin Whitall this morning on the subject of the rights of the
Germans to the Mesopotamian oil-fields. He said that, for the private information
of the embassy, he would state that a company had recently been formed for acquiring
the rights over all the petroleum-fields in Turkey in Asia and to work them. The group
consisted of the Royal Asiatic Company, the Batavian Company, the Deutsche Bank, the
National Bank of Turkey, the Shell Transport Company, as well as other firms
interested in petroleum, and this new company had taken over the rights of the
Anatolian and Bagdad Railways in respect of the 20-kilom. zone on either side of the
railway lines conceded by the conventions, as well as those over the petroleum-fields
which had already been acquired by the Deutsche Bank. He was a director of the new
company, and was associated with Mr. Gunther, the sub-director of the Anatolian
Railway Company, in looking after the new company’s affairs in Constantinople.
D’Arcy had been working for a number of years to obtain the concession of the
Mesopotamian oil-fields, but beyond a verbal promise which, Mr. Whitall understood,
Nichols had got from Hussein Hilmi
Pasha
An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders.
when Grand Vizier, D’Arcy’s negotiations
had not led to anything. (In fact, D’Arcy had done nothing for the last two or three
years, and it would seem as though he had retired from the field altogether.)
Mr. Whitall had written to London suggesting that D’Arcy might be approached
with a view to his joining the new company, which was practically a British concern, as
he thought that about 75 per cent, of the capital would be British. Mr. Whitall
thought some negotiations had already taken place with D’Arcy, and that there had
been some hitch, but he had no knowledge of what had occurred.
With regard to German rights to the concession of the Mesopotamian oil-fields,
Mr. Whitall said he was thoroughly conversant with the question, as he had all the
dossier dealing with the subject. If the infoi mation required on the matter was purely
for the information of the embassy, he was prepared to give all the details, but if it was to
be used, it was only natural, that as a director of the company, he was unable to
say anything. He would, however, state that the Germans had carefully followed
all the phases of the question, and taken such steps has had appeared necessary
to protect their rights, which were absolutely secure, more than this he could not
say. Nichols, whilst in Constantinople, had obtained an idea of the drift of the corre
spondence which had been exchanged between the Government and the Germans, but
Mr. Whitall did not think Nichols had seen any of the documents, nor had he obtained
copies of them. Nichols, however, had no knowledge of the correspondence exchanged
subsequently, after he hacLI^j 1 ^o^tantinople.
December 27,
ie
E. WEAKLEY.
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’ [285r] (578/834), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/300, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100028928518.0x0000b3> [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