'File 5/1 XIV Kuwait Oil Company' [‎274r] (557/570)

P.Z. 4603/39.
KUWAIT OIL COMPANY, LI ITED,
Britannic House,
iinsLury Circus,
London, E.C.2.
25th July, 1939.
J.P. Gibson, Esq..,
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. ,
Whitehall,
S.W.l.
Dear Gibson,
With reference to our conversation on 19th July,
the following is the resume of the subject which Walton
asked me to send for consideration.
On 25th April, 1939, Major Prank Holmes, the London
Representative of H.H. the Shaikh of Kuwait with the
Kuwait Oil Company, called on me and proposed that the
Company should acquire from H.H. an oil concession
covering an area lying beyond the territorial v/aters of
Kuwait and bounded by a line which he indicated on a
chart. I am forwarding under separate cover two copies
of a photostat showing the area concerned.
Major Holmes’ proposal was considered by Directors,
and I wrote to him on 6th July and received a further
letter from him dated 10th July. Copies of these letters
are enclosed.
We should be obliged if His Majesty’s Government
would give us a ruling on the following points
(a) what exclusive and non-exclusive rights has H.H.
the power to grant in the form of an oil concession over
the area indicated.
(b) if such rights can be granted, would H.M.
Government have any objection to negotiations for, and
conclusion of, a Concession agreement between H.H. and the
Company.
Yours, etc.
(Sd. ) H.T.Kemp.