ملف ٣٨٧٧ لسنة ١٩١٢، الجزء ٤، "تركيا الآسيوية: الامتيازات النفطية" [ظ‎‎٩‎٠] (١٧٦/١٢٢)

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both by the Porte and the Ministry to the Bagdad and Mosul authorities relative to the
issue of permits ; they are :—
The 16th Kianum Sani, 1325 (29th January, 1910), stating that permits should .
not be issued. . . . v
The 15th Mart, 1328 (28th March, 1912), informing the authorities that permits
cannot be delivered, as the concession of all oilfields belongs to the Civil List.
The 12th Haziran, 1329 (25th June, 1913), ordering the non-issue of permits.
It is abundantly evident that the numerous oilfields situated in the Mosul and
Bagdad provinces have long been rendered inaccessible to the mining public, owing to
the proprietary rights which the Civil List exercised over them in virtue of the firmans
of 1889, 1898, and 1902, and which have been exercised by the Ministry of Finance
since the transfer of the concession to that Department in 1909.
Doubtless both the Germans and D’Arcy, in pursuing the object of obtaining oil
concessions in the two vilayets, would have followed the usual procedure, and applied
in the first instance for “ permis de recherches,” if that course had been open to them.
The Germans, however, found it necessary in 1904 to negotiate with the Civil List
and conclude an arrangement for working the oilfields in the two provinces, whilst the
negotiations entered into by D’Arcy in 1906-7 wdth the Civil List, after the German
contract had been cancelled, as well as his later negotiations in 1908-9 with the
Ministry of Mines and the Porte, had in view the acquisition, if possible, of the entire
conoession as the only means for obtaining an active interest in the development of the
Mesopotamian oilfields.
It is therefore clearly manifest that Mr. Silley’s friends have vainly been
endeavouring to obtain from the Ministry of Mines that which it is not in the power of
the Department to grant, as no permits can legally be issued for districts already
covered by firmans of concession.
Mr. Silley contends that the applications presented for obtaining permits were
drawn up in accordance with the Mining Regulations. On the assumption that the
oilfields in the Bagdad and Mosul provinces had not been conceded to the Civil List, but
were under the direct and unfettered control of the Ministry of Mines, it is even then
doubtful whether the Ministry would have acceded to the demands of Mr. Silley’s
friends in the manner in which those demands were made.
The oil wells found at Hamam Ali, Kifri, Baba Gurgur in the Mosul vilayet and
those at Tekrit, Dilim, and Mendeli in the Bagdad province are all well known. The
State or the local municipalities, as the case may be, have for many years past derived
certain regular revenues from most if not all of them. They belong to the class of
mines known as “ Maden-i-Mekshoufeh,” viz., known or prospected mines, and as such
would not come under the permit clauses of the Mining Law, but their working would
be subject to the conditions defined in articles 44 and 45 of the Mining Regulations.
These are:—
Article^ 44. L exploitation des mines appartenant it 1’fitat sera dgalement soumise
aux prescriptions des articles de ce reglement concernant les limites, les indemnites, les
conditions de 1 exploitation et les autres rnatieres de meme genre.
Article^ 45. L Administration des Mines public officiellement la nomenclature des
mines deja decouyertes ou abandonnees qui sont connues du Gouvernement Imperial et
enregistrees, amsi que celles des mines dont la concession est annulee. File met, s’il y
a eu on adjudication 1 exploitation de ces mines au besoin pendant une annde et la
concet e au demandeur qui offre annuellement la redevance proportionnelle la plus
e\ ee. ^ n procedera, quant aux autres redevances et charges, conformement aux
prescriptions du present rbglement it Tinstar des autres mines.”
um ers o ^ ells in the districts named are annually put up to adjudication and
armu ou <> t le highest bidders. It is therefore more than probable that, even under
e mos avouia e and free conditions, Mr. Silley’s friends would have very little
prospec o o aining permits for those particular wells, and that their only way of
acquiring an interest in them would be that indicated in article 45.
M v. ? app ications piesented to the Basra authorities in the joint names of Silley and
Mehmed Fakhn for hcences to prospect for oil at Zobeir, El Makayesb, and El Hofuff,
in the INejd sanjak, ought to encounter no difficulty whatever, as the Mining Department
has full control, and the mining laws in their entirety have full sway in the Basra
May 8, 1914.