IOR/R/15/1/645

The file is primarily concerned with the conclusion of the Koweit [Kuwait] Oil Concession negotations between the Shaikh of Kuwait [Shaikh Aḥmad al-Jābir Āl Ṣabāḥ], and the Kuwait Oil Company (KOC). Correspondence includes discussion between both parties and the India Office over final amendments to the wording of the concession agreement, the confirmation of the Shaikh's readiness to sign the agreement, and His Majesty's Government's decision to approve of the decision. The official signing of the concession took place at the Political Agency, Kuwait, on 23 December 1934 in the presence of the following: the Shaikh of Kuwait; Frank Holmes and Archibald Chisholm, negotiators for the KOC; Harold Dickson, Political Agent at Kuwait. Signed copies of the concession, in Arabic and English can be found at folios 21-41 and 211-218.

Further correspondence in relation to the concession includes arrangements to send geologists to Kuwait to undertake surveys, and a discussion around the requirement for the India Office to approve the employment of any non-British individuals by the KOC.

Also included are records of interdepartmental discussions relating to the negotiation process, thoughts on the concession agreements presented by KOC and Traders Ltd, the decision to approve the Shaikh of Kuwait's agreement to sign the KOC concession, and possible courses of action in anticipation of criticism from Lord Lloyd (George Lloyd, 1st Baron Lloyd) over the decision to award the concession to KOC. The individuals involved in these departmental meetings included the following: Gilbert Laithwaite, John Walton and George Crombie from the India Office; Frederick Starling of the Petroleum Department; George Rendel and Kenneth Johnstone from the Foreign Office; and Ebenezer Seal from the Admiralty.

Also discussed are the negotiations between the Shaikh of Kuwait and Traders Ltd which took place between September and November 1934, along with the rumours and suspicions regarding the financial backing and support for the Company, the possible involvement of members of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC) in the process, and the conduct of the Shaikh of Kuwait in having entered into negotiations without prior approval from His Majesty's Government and having broken a promise to the KOC not to entertain any other competitor at that time.

Other matters discussed in the file include:

• The Standard Oil Company of California's option regarding the Saudi Arabian share of the Kuwait-Nejd Neutral Zone Concession and the possibility of it working with the Iraq Petroleum Company in order to obtain the whole concession (folios 56-57, 188-191, and 206-210) .There is also reference to a geological survey of the Neutral Zone undertaken by British representatives
• The visits of Harry St John Philby and Stephen Hemsley Longrigg to Kuwait in 1935, both of whom were interested in ascertaining the Shaikh of Kuwait's position regarding the Kuwaiti share of the Neutral Zone concession (folios 170-192)
• The Kuwaiti-Saudi Arabia blockade conference, including correspondence on where the negotiations were to be held, the numbers of delegates permitted by both sides, and the Shaikh of Kuwait's insistence that any settlement must be based on a solution involving the customs post and the manifest system (folios 193-204).