821.6363/359a: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the Minister in Colombia ( Piles )

[Paraphrase]

7. Interested parties have called the Department’s attention to Decree 150, issued on January 28, regulating the petroleum law of 1927. These regulations appear to impose extremely burdensome conditions on American oil companies; and the Department has been told that if these regulations are strictly enforced, they may render it impossible for American oil companies to operate in Colombia.

Please report to the Department on this subject immediately, briefly by telegraph and in detail by mail. In your discretion you may informally discuss the matter with the Colombian authorities and point out the unfortunate effect which the petroleum law and regulations may have upon the development of the petroleum industry in Colombia. In this connection you may say that the Department has been receiving protests from some of the American companies affected, and that it is giving the matter very careful consideration.

Kellogg