800.6363/223
The Secretary of State to the Netherland Chargé (De Beaufort)
Sir: I have the honor to advert to your note of February 2, 1921, in which you refer to a statement made in the report of May 14, 1920, by the Department of State to the President, transmitted by the President to the Senate on May 17, 1920, to the effect that American [Page 532] companies have endeavored for many years without success to obtain oil rights in the Netherlands East Indies. You stated in your note that seven mining concessions in the Netherlands East Indies were granted on September 4, 1920, to the Koloniale Petroleum Maatschappy, a Netherlands corporation in which the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey is interested.
A copy of your note of February 2, 1921, was, as stated in my note of February 8th,10 transmitted to the Government Department which is charged with the administration of the general leasing law of February 25, 1920, and has had due consideration. I now take pleasure in informing you that I have received from the interested American company certain further information on the subject11 which I have likewise transmitted to the Department of the Interior.
According to the communication from this company, seven concessions for the exploitation of petroleum, gas, or coal were granted to the Koloniale Petroleum Maatschappy on September 4, 1920, one on January 3, 1920, and two in October, 1919. It is further stated by the company that the prospecting licenses originally covering the acreage in question were granted prior to May 1, 1913, that the Koloniale Petroleum Maatschappy did not obtain these licenses from the Netherlands Government but by purchase from third parties, and that, under the law in force on May 1, 1913, the discovery of a mineral by the holder of a prospecting license entitled him to a concession. The company takes the position, based on the above considerations, that the Koloniale Petroleum Maatschappy has not increased its holdings in the Netherlands East Indies by reason of the ten concessions recently granted. It is also suggested by the company that the only holdings of the Koloniale Petroleum Maatschappy in the Netherlands East Indies at the present time consist of the ten concessions referred to and eighteen prospecting licenses covering acreage on which applications for concessions have been filed, that all of these prospecting licenses were obtained not from the Government but by purchase from third parties, that all were granted prior to May 1, 1913, and that, although the Koloniale Petroleum Maatschappy applied for a number of prospecting licenses, none has been granted to it.
Accept [etc.]