875.6363/213
The Chargé in Albania (Kodding) to the Secretary of State
[Received July 2.]
Sir: Adverting to the petroleum concession situation in Albania I have the honor to report upon several developments which have [Page 508] recently come to the notice of the Legation. Mr. Sheffield, the representative of the Standard Oil Company of New York, is continuing his negotiations to obtain a third choice of territory. His proposals have been accepted by all the members of the Cabinet with the exception of Mufid Bey Libohova, Minister for Foreign Affairs.
Mr. Sheffield expects to find a formula which will satisfy his company’s interests and those of the Crédit Générale des Pétroles as well, thus avoiding any conflict between the French and American projects. Further opportunities for successfully demanding a contribution to personal funds will be materially reduced in this way, it is hoped.
The French proposals for an oil concession concern a limited area of about 2400 hectares which was defined and applied for several years ago. Approximately 1400 hectares of this area were granted by the Albanian Government to the Italian Railway Administration, but the French have held tenaciously to the point of view that they have a special position in this area and that it must eventually be granted to the Crédit Générale des Pétroles. I am informed by M. Guys, the French Secretary of Legation and Consul, that his Government’s Ambassador at Rome approached the Italian Government with a view towards securing a relinquishment of Italian rights over the above-mentioned territory desired by French interests. He was informed that inasmuch as an agreement existed between the Italian and English oil interests in Albania concerning selection of areas the Italians could relinquish no rights over territory which had been chosen until the Anglo-Persian Oil Company had been approached. Mr. Sheffield previously had stated that from a geological standpoint the English and Italian areas were chosen in so complementary a manner as to leave but little room for doubt that an agreement existed between the two interests.
Mr. H. C. A. Eyres, the British Minister, informs me that the French Government approached the British Foreign Office a short time ago, stating that the Anglo-Persian oil concession in Albania was a monopoly and requesting on this ground that certain areas be given up to French enterprise. The British Government refused to interfere in the matter and pointed out that the Anglo-Persian concession was not monopolistic, citing the grant of a larger area to the Italian Railroad Administration. Mr. Eyres felt that his Government would have interposed no objection had the French not made a matter of right of the question hut had merely suggested negotiating an agreement with the Anglo-Persian Oil Company.
I have [etc.]