OIL AGREEMENT SIGNED

Taranaki Daily News, 4 May 1933, Page 7

OIL AGREEMENT SIGNED

AGREEMENT WITH PERSIA D’ARCY CONCESSION SECURED. SOME OF TERMS ANNOUNCED. By Telegraph—Press Association. Teheran, May 3. The Anglo-Persian oil agreement has been signed. The company agrees to the payment of royalties of 4s a ton besides one-fifth of the net profits and arrears of £1,000,000. It undertakes to extract 5,000,000 tons annually and to engage more Persian students of engineering. The concession runs for 60 years. Early in November, 1932, the Persian Government notified the Anglo-Persian Oil Company of the annulment of the D’Arcy concession, stating that it was willing to negotiate a new agreement. The company, however, contended that the concession contained no provision for cancellation. Persia’s action was taken very seriously by the British Government and Notes were sent in protest. One on December 2 stated that the position would be referred to the Permanent Court of International Justice at The Hague if Persia did not withdraw its notification of cancellation. • To this the Persian Government raised objections and Britain announced its decision not to pursue the demand for reference of the case to the Permanent Court, but instead to refer the matter to the Council of the League of Nations under Article 15 of the Covenant.

On December 19 the dispute came before the League and after extended negotiations an amicable agreement was reached.