890G.6363/6–1945
Memorandum by the Chief of the Petroleum Division (Darlington) to the Chief of the Division of Near Eastern Affairs (Merriam)
This is a belated acknowledgment of your memorandum of June 19 addressed to Mr. Loftus.18 Its purpose is merely to complete your records so far as they can be completed at this time.
Officers of the Division have inquired into the points raised by Nuri Pasha on the occasion of his visit in May of this year. It appears that at the time of Nuri Pasha’s visit the contract had already been let with British suppliers for sixteen-inch pipe for the new Iraq petroleum line from Kirkuk to the Mediterranean. This issue appears to be foreclosed, since under the exchange control arrangements obtaining in Iraq it would not be possible to finance the construction of a line involving use of American pipe. (The total cost of the line would be in the neighborhood of sixty million dollars, of which a very large fraction would be material cost; and no such supply of dollars is available for importation into Iraq.)
With reference to the initiation of development operations in the Basra concession area, the representatives of the American interests participating in the Iraq Petroleum Company have been consulted. They are favorable to such operations but believe that no concrete steps wall be taken by their partners until the global petroleum supply demand situation has clarified. The Petroleum Division will continue to give close attention to developments in this regard and will report to you thereon.
- Not printed.↩