D'Arcy Concession

The D'Arcy Concession was a petroleum oil concession that was signed in 1901 between William Knox D'Arcy and Mozzafar al-Din Shah of Persia. The oil concession gave D'Arcy the exclusive rights to prospect for oil in Persia (now Iran). During this exploration for oil, D'Arcy and his team encountered financial troubles and struggled to find sellable amounts of oil. They were about to give up but eventually struck large commercial quantities of oil in 1908. After these large commercial quantities of oil were found, the Anglo-Persian Oil Company took over the concession in 1909.

William Knox D'Arcy was born in Devon, England in 1849. D'Arcy was always willing to take a chance when it came to business ventures. When he emigrated to Australia, he took a chance by organizing a syndicate to reopen and get an Australian gold mine back into operation. It turned out that this gold mine still had a lot of gold yet to be found. From this, D'Arcy became a very wealthy man and he returned to England looking for a new investment and to take another chance. This investment and chance would eventually be to prospect for oil in Persia and the venture later became known as the D'Arcy Concession.

During the 1890s, research and reports were being published that Persia had great oil potential. Some of D'Arcy's advisers made D'Arcy aware of these reports and promised him wealth if he invested in this venture. D'Arcy agreed and sent out representatives to Tehran to win a concession that would give him the exclusive rights to prospect for oil in Persia. On April 16, 1901, negotiations commenced between D'Arcy's representatives and Shah Mozzafar al-Din over the potential oil concession.

During this time period Great Britain and Russia had a great rivalry over the influence each wanted inside Persia. Both imperial powers believed that Persia and the Middle East were important to their imperial economic and military interests. Russia wanted to expand its influence into Persia and Britain believed that this would be a direct threat towards its precious Indian possessions. These two countries fought for influence in Persia through numerous concessions and loans throughout the 19th century. Many British government officials believed that this was where the D'Arcy concession could help. A British oil concession would help tip the balance of power in Persia in Britain's favour. As a result, the British government and its officials in Persia gave full political support to D'Arcy and his potential oil concession. Once the Russians found out about the negotiations between D'Arcy and the Shah, the Russian prime minister tried to block the impending negotiations. The Russian prime minister was able to slow the pace of the agreement until D'Arcy's representative in Tehran offered the Shah an extra £5,000 to close the agreement.

...
Wikipedia