File No. 812.6363/292
Chargé Summerlin to
the Secretary of State
No. 311
American Embassy,
Mexico City,
July 9, 1917.
Sir: With reference to the Department’s
telegram No. 267, June 16, 3 p.m., relative to the refusal on the part
of officials of the Mexican Government to grant permits to oil companies
to drill wells acquired under leases of dates subsequent to February 5,
1917, I have the honor to enclose herewith, copies and translations of
my note verbale of June 22 to the Minister of
Industry and Commerce on the subject, and of his reply of June 28.
I have [etc.]
[Page 1071]
[Inclosure 1]
Ambassador Fletcher to the Minister of
Industry and Commerce
The Ambassador of the United States of America presents his
compliments to his excellency the Secretary of Industry and
Commerce, and has the honor to state that he has received a telegram
from the Department of State of the United States in which he is
informed that according to information which has been received, the
officials of the Mexican Government decline to grant permission to
petroleum companies to sink wells acquired under leases entered into
since the 5th of February of the present year, on which date the new
Constitution was promulgated. It is said that various American
companies acquired rights for the sinking of wells during the period
between the 5th of February and the 1st of May, based on statements
of the Mexican Government that the new Constitution would not go
into effect prior to the 1st of May.
In view of the above, the Ambassador, under instructions from his
Government, requests His Excellency, the Secretary of Industry and
Commerce, to kindly inform him in the premises, for which he
anticipates his thanks.
Mr. Fletcher avails [etc.]
American Embassy,
Mexico, June 22, 1917.
[Inclosure 2—Translation]
The Minister of Industry and
Commerce to Ambassador Fletcher
Mexico City,
June 28, 1917.
Mr. Ambassador: I have the honor to reply
to your excellency’s esteemed letter of the 22d instant, in which
you are pleased to inform me that the Department of State of the
United States of America, which has been informed that the officials
of our Government decline to grant permission to companies to sink
wells acquired under leases entered into since the 5th of February
of this year, wishes to know the legal status of the said petroleum
companies.
It is true that on the 24th instant the Department of Petroleum of
this Ministry issued to petroleum agencies, a telegraphic order
prohibiting, until further notice, the issuance of permits for the
sinking of petroleum wells, on lands leased on dates subsequent to
the 5th of February, on which date the new Federal Constitution was
promulgated. According to the text of Article 27 in relation to the
first of the transitory articles of our Fundamental Law, the direct
control of petroleum and of all hydrocarbons corresponds to the
Nation as from the 1st of May. Leases, or contracts of whatever
nature relating to the exploitation of these mineral products,
entered into on dates prior to the promulgation of the Constitution
are presumed to have been made in good faith; but not those which
were made subsequent to that date, because the subsoil from which
the products are to be secured, and which is the basis of such
contracts, does not belong, according to said Law, to the owner of
the surface lands, by virtue of the nationalization imposed by the
text referred to.
The prohibition declared is, therefore, but a part of the measures
taken covering the constitutional text for the purpose of making the
same effective.
I renew [etc.]
