IOR/L/PS/12/2100

This file largely consists of copies of Colonial Office and Foreign Office correspondence relating to oil and mining concessions in Yemen. Matters discussed in the correspondence include the following:

• Details of a concession for the exploitation of oil and other minerals, reported to have been granted by the Imam of Yemen [Yaḥyá Muḥammad Ḥamīd al-Dīn] in 1932 to a man named Muhammad Sa'id Saqqaf (also transliterated as Mahommed Sakaf).
• Details provided by the Political Resident at Aden (Bernard Rawdon Reilly) regarding E R Bailey (formerly associated with the Eastern and General Syndicate) and his commercial interests in Yemen.
• Subsequent steps taken by the British Government to prevent Bailey from entering either Yemen or the Aden Protectorate.
• Details of a draft oil concession, which Petroleum Concessions Limited proposes to submit to the Imam of Yemen.
• Details of a proposed geological examination of Hodeida, in Yemen, reportedly approved by the Imam of Yemen, which is to be conducted by the French company, Compagnie Française des Pétroles.

The file's principal correspondents are the following: Bernard Rawdon Reilly as Political Resident at Aden, and later, Governor of Aden; the Secretary of State for the Colonies; Petroleum Concessions Limited; the Imam of Yemen; officials of the Colonial Office, the Foreign Office and the Admiralty.

The file includes a divider which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.