Oil affairs in Kuwait

This file concerns Kuwait’s entry into an oil participation agreement between Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi with British Petroleum and Gulf Oil Corporation. It contains memoranda and correspondence relating to:

• Negotiations concerning the buyback price of Kuwaiti oil
• Articles in The Times, the Guardian, and the Financial Times concerning the agreement
• Objections to the agreement in the National Assembly and Kuwait Trade Union Federation
• Press conference given by the Kuwaiti Minister of Finance and Oil Sayyed Abdulrahman Al Atiqi
• The question of reopening negotiations in the event that Iran receives better terms than the Gulf States
• Delays to the ratification of the agreement in the National Assembly
• An interview with Al Atiqi in Al Siyasa
• The question of an alternative to the agreement

The file also concerns Kuwaiti oil affairs more generally and contains correspondence relating to:

• The establishment of the Arab Oil Tanker Company by the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries and the possibility of British assistance
• Production figures of the Kuwait Oil Company Limited (KOC)
• The payments of KOC to the government of Kuwait between 1934 and 1972
• The appointment of S R Coldwell as Company Secretary and Coordinator of KOC
• The question of conserving oil reserves; the freeze in production; an incorrect estimate of Kuwait’s reserves, and the question of KOC misleading the Government regarding the size of Kuwait’s reserves
• Kuwait’s commitment to a policy of using oil exports as a coercive instrument in the Arab-Israel conflict
• Kuwaiti hopes of refining and marketing crude oil itself
• The subject of renegotiating exchange agreements with BP and Shell
• The conclusion of an economic cooperation agreement between Kuwait and France
• The tax arrangements of the Arabian Oil Company with Kuwait and Saudi Arabia
• The financial relations between Aminoil and the government of Kuwait
• Kuwait’s involvement in the suspension of oil production by Algeria, Libya and Iraq to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the State of Israel
• Objections to a government bill to give itself statutory powers to exercise detailed control of oil operations in the National Assembly