ملف رقم ١٤٢١ لسنة ١٩٠٨، جزء ٣، "بلاد فارس: النفط؛ مفاوضات بين شيخ المحمرة وشركة النفط الأنجلو-فارسية" [و‎‎٢‎٨‎١] (٣٣٨/١٢٧)

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[This Docmgent is tiie Property of His B ritannic Majesty’s Crovemment.]
I HAA E the honour to transmit copy of a despatch addressed to the Government
of India by His Majesty’s consul-general at Bushire, respecting a proposal of the
Anglo-Persian Oil Company to bore for oil in the territories of the Sheikh of
Mohammerah.
I rom the correspondence enclosed in Colonel Cox’s despatch you will see that
the oil company claims the right under article 1 of its concession to prospect for oil
anywhere within the provinces covered by the concession without asking leave or
paying rent to anyone, and that it is not prepared to make any payment to the
Sheikh of Mohammerah for the right to prospect for oil on his lands, and, moreover,
even if oil is found, the company maintains that the sheikh is not properly entitled to
any share in the profits though the company might be willing to make him some
gratuitous payment.
There is no doubt something to be said for the company’s view of the legal
aspect of the case, but I concur with Colonel Cox and Lieutenant Wilson in thinking
that it would be in the company’s best interest to treat the sheikh in this matter
in such manner as to keep him as favourably disposed towards the company as he has
shown himself in the past.
I HAVE the honour to refer to my telegram of the 10th June, 1910,
reporting the intention of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company to commence boring for oil
in the territory of the Sheikh of Mohammerah, and to forward, for the information
of the Government of India, copies of correspondence which has since passed on the
subject between His Majesty’s acting consul at Mohammerah and the agents of the
company, received under cover of Lieutenant Wilson’s two reports.
2 . It will be seen from the papers that the oil company, feeling that they
have been too complacent and too freely bled in their dealings in the past with the
Bakhtiaris, and being disinclined to repeat the experience, express their intention
to proceed on different lines in future, and to rely more on a strict interpreta
tion and enforcement of their rights under the original D’Arcy concession in any
further negotiations which they may require to embark upon with the Sheikh of
Mohammerah.
Lieutenant Wilson, in taking note of their intentions, expresses the view, on the
grounds explained by him, that the pursuance of a too rigid policy with the Sheikh of
Mohammerah is likely to be beset by more difficulties than the company have perhaps
fully realised, and advises them to shape their contemplated negotiations on more
liberal and elastic lines.
With this view I generally concur. The company, whatever may be their strict
rights under their original concession, have to reckon with an impotent Government
at Tehran and the practical situation in Arabistan, and I have no doubt myself that it
will prove more profitable for them in the long run to carry the sheikh with them in
their enterprise than to endeavour, so far as Ins territory is concerned, to pursue any
policy in spite of him. t . . ~ - -
[43455]
CONFIDENTIAL.
PEKSIA.
(No. 209.)
Sir,
Sir G. Barclay to Sir Edward Grey.—(Received November 30.)
Tehran, November 12, 1910.
I have, &c.
(In the absence of the Minister)
LANCELOT OLIPHANT.
Enclosure 1 in No. 1 .
Lieutenant-Colonel Cox to the Government of India.
Sir,
Bushire, October 2, 1910.
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CO. 10 INDIA B