"الملف 82/1 [I]‏ (F 52)‏ أ.ب.و.ك.، والامتيازات النفطية - الساحل العربي"‏ [و‎‎١‎٠‎١] (٣٠٧/٢٠١)

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i left Kuwait on ^aturcU'.y after^ioon txj four, croBaed
over uo Faiillcah, where I h-lted for dinner, and ohen on uo
Babiyan, rher^ x anchored for ohe night. On fc.ux/U~y a^oriiin^ I went
on to Fao, where I stopped n couple of hour^ to ^ive my Grew a
chance of going oh shore to do some cooking. I left Fao at noon
and got into Muhanuaarah, evidently pasaing jou iii Buoi u cut '
^between 1 Abbadan and Muhammrah, x athe night there,dining
with and cai»»c on here on Monday morning.
have disou^^ed both the queationf* which jou menuxoilfeu xa
/oui- Ai.w, ui 4th March wl^h A.T,
Regarding the Oil concession, I enclose herewith a draft
Agreement which he produced and which we went through together
and on which we made certain alterations at the time, n
As you will see it is a single Agreement to cover the "Ex
ploration Licende", "the "Prospecting Licence" and the "Exploita
tion Lease", and personally I see nothing but advantage in having
it all In one document*.
In Article I a period of 60 years is mentioned, which was
new to me. It is also for "the whole extent of the territories
under his control ,, , instead of the territory within the red semi
circle, as in k the paper-which you sent to me.-I pointed this
out to A 0 T ## and he said that they had no intention of goin^;
beyond the red line at present,-and said that if we liked he
would give an undertaking that they would not do so without
previous reference to H # M A Government. \
In Article 4, he had put in a clause making the Prospecting
Licence renewable for two years, li|:e the Exploration Licence, 0
but cut it out on my raising the point..
I^i Article 6 , he has made the exemption from Customs dues_
permanent, instead of for ten yearB, and has also made them
include the "reasonable personable reouireswents of employees".
says une coapanjd are^very anxious to have this & permanent
: j ran^e^iient, and points out that Article should safeguard the -
Shaikh from lo»» #
In Article I told A r T # that I thought the Shaikh would
never agree to the second paragraph with gentlemen like Faisal ad-
i^awlsh, Ibn Hallaf, etc, at large, and he says they would not -
mind giving him an additional document to the effect that they
would not. actually hold him responsible in case of force majeur 0
The most difficult point was in Article X2m In the paper you
sent me the rate of royalty was to be subject to revision at the
end ox ten years from the date of sir:ru't.ure of the Exploratio n
have not got the file wik with me but am sure this isso,
whereas in his draft it was -ten years from the date of the first
-payment of royalty, - i.e./a possible difference of six years The
uolonial ffice letter of 29th March 1Q3S does not seem particular^
ly cle«-r on tae subject, and A.T» said he bad never read it any-
thing; except his way. He suggested a compromiae^ of 12 from date-
of signature, and I do not think the Shaikh would cavel at that.
of view 1 ^ 1016 13 ^ a dlatinct, ^pFovement from Lhe Shaikh's point
in Article 14, the nasty Rs.lOCo/ft "tips" oo uhe Shaikh which
it made me bluah to offer, have been ^t out, and su^s of!
ns.l^,C^/~ substituted. In the original draft the second of uhese
was-to be in the event of an extension of the Exploration Licence
but on my suggesting; that it should be on liie grant of a Prospect
ing Licence instecid, he agreed, or rather said tiie Shaikh could -
have ifeiohever he preferred.
1 shall be very grateful if you will let me ha^e this draft
Agreement back to Kuwait (where I hope t arrive on Monday morning)
together with your comments, and let me know if you see any
objection to my carrying on on TLheae lines, as A.i, wants me *o.
On the whole it seems to me to be better than the original, and lu
is a simplification to get rid of all the talk about tihe <*00000
acres for the Prospecting Licence. -