IOR/R/15/1/647

The file primarily focuses on the progress being made by the Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) in drilling for oil in Kuwait, including establishing drills at new sites and the discovery of oil at the Burgan site in February 1938. Later correspondence relates to various topics, as follows: the work and tests required on the oil before announcements relating to the discovery of oil in commercial quantities can be made; discussions with the India Office over the difference between 'commercial quantities' of oil and 'commercial conditions' for oil, the latter requiring the company to discuss the establishment of a refinery with the British Government; the decision by the KOC to cease their activities in Kuwait, other than drilling for water, owing to the outbreak of war, along with their actions in safeguarding the wells against potential enemy action; the negotiations with the Shaikh of Kuwait regarding the payment of royalties for the discovery of oil and advances on those royalties. The primary correspondents are the Kuwait Oil Company; Shaikh of Kuwait (Shaikh Aḥmad al-Jābir Āl Ṣabāḥ); the Political Agent at Kuwait (Gerald Simpson de Gaury, Andrew Charles Stewart); the Political Resident at Bushire (Trenchard Craven Fowle, Charles Geoffrey Prior); the Secretary of State for India (Lawrence Dundas, the 2nd Marquess of Zetland) and India Office staff (J P Gibson, Alexander Symon, Roland Tennyson Peel)

Also discussed in the file is the question of a concession for an area outside of the territorial waters of Kuwait and numerous correspondence between the Kuwait Oil Company, India Office, Admiralty (Clifford George Jarrett) and Petroleum Department (Frederick Charles Starling) that debate what the jurisdictions might be in such an area, the exact nature of the territorial waters surrounding Kuwait, and potential boundary and frontier issues that might arise from such a concesssion. The correspondence is cut short owing to the outbreak of World War II as the various departments no longer have the time to discuss such matters and an agreement is reached with the Company and the Shaikh of Kuwait to suspend the matter until the war is over.

Other matters discussed in the volume include:

• An article which appeared in Al Sijil magazine which criticises the Kuwait Oil Company for failing to find oil in Kuwait and the Shaikh of Kuwait for keeping the concession negotiations and signed agreement secret from his own people. A translated copy of the article is included at folios 8-9;
• The commencement by the Kuwait Oil Company of the construction of a jetty at Bandar Shuwaikh, and the potential defensive benefits such a jetty could have in war-time;
• A proposed visit by Colonel Harold Dickson, Chief Local Representative of the Kuwait Oil Company, to Ibn Sa'ud over Christmas 1938 that was eventually cancelled due to objections from the Shaikh of Kuwait;
• Arrangements with the American Mission in Kuwait for the provision of medical and hospital facilities for Company employees and the decision to employ another American nurse who would attend to the hospital needs of the company but would also assist with the work of the Mission's Women's hospital (folios 76-80);
• Correspondence between the Kuwait Oil Company, Secretary of State for India and the India Office regarding the appointment of American personnel in Kuwait and obtaining the British Government's permission for their appointments;
• Correspondence between the Political Agent at Kuwait, the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf and His Majesty's Vice-Consul at Khorramshar (Albert Napier) regarding a Kuwait Oil Company employee of non-British or Kuwaiti status who was granted a visa to travel to Kuwait for work without permission from the British Government and discussing the correct passport and visa procedures for non-British subjects travelling throughout the region.