Middle East Oil Committee: Meetings 1-16 (1955); Papers 1-32 (1955-1956); Meeting 1 (1956); Papers 1-3 (1956)

This file contains cabinet memoranda for the Middle East Oil Committee’s minutes of meetings from 6 January 1955 to 7 January 1956. This entire file concerns Gulf matters. It includes memoranda concerning:

• The situation in the Middle East oil industry since the signing of the Persian Oil Agreement, 1954; and the final text of the Agreement between the Government of Persia [Iran] and the Iranian Oil Consortium
• The price negotiations between the Ruler of Kuwait Sheikh Abdulla Al Salem Al Sabah, BP, Shell and the Gulf Oil ; the text of a ‘Memorandum of Agreement’ signed on 14 May 1955 by representatives of the Ruler of Kuwait, the D’Arcy Kuwait Company [BP], and Gulf Kuwait; and the Ruler of Kuwait’s wish for London to publish an invitation for all oil companies to make offers for concessional rights in the continental shelf
• Kuwait's intention to reform its tax legislation; and the Inland Revenue's assurance that the profits of British oil companies in Kuwait would be entitled to unilateral relief from UK income tax and Profits Tax, in respect of payment of Kuwait Tax
• The proposed Kuwait Water Scheme, 1955, whereby Kuwait would obtain water by pipeline from the Shatt Al Arab
• The lease by Iraq of the Island of Warbah, and a small portion of Kuwait’s mainland which Iraq needs for the proposed development of the port of Umm Qasr
• Britain’s influence in Kuwait
• The withdrawal of Royal Navy ships stationed in the Gulf
• The possible revision of the refinery fee paid by Bahrain Petroleum Company to the Ruler of Bahrain Sheikh Salman Bin Hamad Al Khalifa
• The US Government's statement that if HMG do not persuade BP to withdraw their tender to Tidewater Oil Company for the supply of a quantity of Middle East crude oil, the Neely amendment to the Trade Agreement Bill would be passed
• The US’s oil import policy
• The dispute between the Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC) and Syria regarding the rate of payments for oil transit rights; a paper by the Foreign Office on the dispute; and the conclusion of agreements between the IPC and the Syrian Government
• The IPC’s desire to start drilling in Muscat
• The IPC’s decision to give up their installations in Israel
• Saudi Arabia’s alleged attempt to bribe the inhabitants on the disputed border at Buraimi
• The activities of oil companies near the southern frontiers of Saudi Arabia
• The UK Ambassador in Beirut’s impression that Britain is not doing enough to maintain its position in the Middle East, in view of the importance of its oil resources, and his suggestion that action should be taken to invest more in the Middle East
• Britain’s intention to gift arms to Libya
• The question of what is the Saudi Arabian Government using the revenues from ARAMCO for
• The texts of a ‘Memorandum of Agreement’ on the pricing of Iraqi oil, and a ‘Working Memorandum’ for both the Iraq Government, and the IPC, signed on 24 March 1955
• The establishment of the Working Party, with the view of ‘safeguarding the free flow of oil supplies from the Middle East’
• Economic cooperation in the Middle East