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File 2249/1915 Pt 4 ‘Oil: Mesopotamia & Persia. (General File) 1920–24’ [144r] (287/484)
The record is made up of 1 item (242 folios). It was created in 1 Nov 1919-20 May 1924. 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.
■MM
Draft Paper.
POLITICAL
‘A
^ haj
receipt
i.at all
lepenief,
ited
it toft
the
far
\[t
id to
this
cease,
tnent
to stop
waste of
mpetitof
The Under Secretary of State
Foreign Office.
P.5690.
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.
.
1920.
13
Sir,
10 521—1
5000 12/19
I am directed by the Secretary
of State for India to acknowledge tios.
receipt of your letter dated 3rd August,
1920 Bo.B.8978/20/44 on the subject of
the oil fields in Mesopotamia.
2. Mr.Secretary Montagu had proposed
in any case to await il3=e receipt of the
despatch referred to in Sir A.T.Wilson 1 s
telegram of July 20th No.8742 before
proceeding to consider in consultation
with the interested Departments of
His Majesty 1 s Government, the suggested
appointment of the Geological
Commission,' and he concurs with Lord
Curzon that the time is not yet ripe
for any decision as to the future of
these oil fields.
3. also 4c erKpii re whether the
recommendation conveyed in the last
paragraph of your letter - "it would
seem highly desirable that all action
in regard to these oil fields should be
K.A'
suspended" - is^intended to refer to
the very limited operations which are
b(5g/ng conducted at the Naft Eh an a. oil
fields<$ Should this be the intention
of His Lordship, Mr.Secretary
Montagu would suggest that the matter
be
About this item
- Content
The item comprises correspondence and other papers concerning oil exploration in territories that were part of the Ottoman Empire prior to the First World War. The item includes: reports on exploratory drilling being undertaken by the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC) at Naft Khana [Nafţ Khānah], in territory transferred from Persia [Iran] to Mesopotamia [Iraq] in 1914 in response to recommendations made by the Turco-Persian Boundary Commission; the question of whether APOC drilling activity at Naft Khana should be paid for out of military funds, given Britain’s military occupation and administration of Mesopotamia during and after the First World War; oil concessions in Mesopotamia in relation to the San Remo Oil Agreement (1920), signed between the British and French Governments; a 1920 survey report by the APOC geologist, William Robert Smellie, entitled ‘Oil in relation to Fars anticlines’ (ff 132-139), and a response by the Officiating Director of the Geological Survey of India, Edwin Hall Pascoe, that disagrees with Smellie’s findings (ff 100-101); British Government policy on mining and oil prospecting in Palestine; and correspondence exchanged between representatives of the Government of the United States and the Foreign Office, relating to the refusal to permit American companies to conduct oil surveys in Mesopotamia.
The item’s principal correspondence are: the Foreign Office; HM Petroleum Executive, the Civil Commissioner in Baghdad, Arnold Talbot Wilson; and representatives of the Government of the United States.
The item includes a divider, which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.
- Extent and format
- 1 item (242 folios)
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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File 2249/1915 Pt 4 ‘Oil: Mesopotamia & Persia. (General File) 1920–24’ [144r] (287/484), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/557/2, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100076914802.0x000063> [accessed 20 February 2025]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/10/557/2
- Title
- File 2249/1915 Pt 4 ‘Oil: Mesopotamia & Persia. (General File) 1920–24’
- Pages
- 1r:6v, 8r:15v, 19r:28r, 30r:47v, 49r:56v, 59r:60v, 62r:63r, 65r:65v, 68r:74v, 77r:105v, 107r:131v, 140r:146v, 149r:163v, 174r:187v, 190r:190v, 193r:198v, 200r:201v, 203r:212v, 214r:229v, 231r:242v
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence