‘A New Era in Anglo-Persian Relations’

Foreign Office Statement on Iran Oil Consortium


The Mossadegh Project | August 1, 2019                         


British Foreign Office | IRAN 1951-1954
Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC) Archive
Iran Oil Consortium | Archive 1953-1954




FOREIGN OFFICE STATEMENT

Details have been announced today in Tehran of the arrangements to be made between the Persian Government and the Consortium of oil companies with the object of restoring the oil industry in South Persia and providing an outlet for Persian oil.

The Consortium, in which the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company will have a 40% holding and Royal Dutch Shell 14%, the reminder being held by American and French companies, will form two companies, incorporated in the Netherlands, for the purpose of carrying on producing and refining operations in Persia where they will have their operating headquarters. The shares of these companies will be held by a company incorporated in London with its headquarters here. The Consortium will also form a company in London to undertake procurement and servicing for the operating companies.

As part of a general settlement, agreement has also been reached on payment of compensation by Persia to the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, as announced separately in Tehran. A statement on this subject is also being issued by the company.

An announcement has also been made in Tehran about the conclusion of payments arrangements between Her Majesty’s Government and the Persian Government which will come into force on ratification of the oil and compensation agreements. All transactions, including those of the Consortium with Persia, will normally be settled in sterling.

When the oil and compensation agreements have been signed and ratified in Persia, the dispute between the Persian Government on the one hand and Her Majesty’s Government and the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company on the other will have been resolved. Her Majesty’s Government warmly welcome this development as a major contribution to the stability of the whole of the Middle East area. They hope and believe that it will mark a new stage in the history of Anglo-Persian relations.

Her Majesty’s Government wish to pay tribute to the realism which the Persian Government and the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company have displayed in the interests of a settlement. They are also glad to acknowledge the helpful and constructive part played by the United States Government and its representatives. No settlement, however, would have been possible without the participation of the other major oil companies which can help to provide an outlet for sufficient quantities of Persian oil. The agreement demonstrates the genuine identity of interest between Persia and the Western Powers and shows that the oil companies have an essential part to play in co-operation with the Governments and peoples of the Middle East.

Her Majesty’s Government, for their part, will do all in their power to ensure the smooth working of the new agreement, which they regard as consistent with the present pattern of the oil industry in the Middle East and from which they believe that Persia will secure fundamental and lasting benefit.

August 5, 1954.

News Department,
FOREIGN OFFICE.


Divvying Up the Loot: The Iran Oil Consortium Agreement of 1954
Divvying Up the Loot: The Iran Oil Consortium Agreement of 1954

Search MohammadMossadegh.com



Related links:

British Had “Colonial Aims in Iran” (Abdollah Entezam, Nov. 1953)

Loy Henderson and Hoover’s Dinner With Fazlollah Zahedi, Entezam (Oct. 1953)

Sec. of State Dulles: “Extreme nationalization is the greatest problem” (Sept. 23, 1953 cable)



MOSSADEGH t-shirts — “If I sit silently, I have sinned”

Facebook  Twitter  YouTube  Tumblr   Instagram