Editorial Note

Negotiations between the Syrian Government and Tapline regarding pipe line rights were protracted. Among demands made by the Syrian Government was, according to telegram 74, March 7, a requirement that the terminus of the pipe line be located on the Syrian coast or at a port jointly controlled by Syria and Lebanon. Tapline refused to grant the demands. Telegram 255 reported that on August 21, Mr. Lenahan addressed a letter to the Syrian Prime Minister which stated that if, by August 30, the Syrian Government did not sign a convention basically the same as that signed by the Lebanese Government on August 10, 1946 (see bracketed note, Foreign Relations, 1946, volume VII, page 29), the company would withdraw its request for transit privileges.

At this point, acording to telegram 262, August 27, the Syrian Government called in its “old and trusted friend”, Ambassador George Wadsworth, Minister to Syria and Lebanon until January 1947, who was then vacationing in Lebanon. Despatch 754, September 2, reported that Ambassador Wadsworth suggested to the President and the Prime Minister of Syria that if the Government was in fact prepared to sign the convention and that if the only impediment was its unwillingness [Page 665] to proceed on the basis of the statements in the company’s letter, a solution might be found if the Prime Minister redrafted the passages of the letter to which he took exception and obtained company acceptance of the changes. According to airgram 339, September 10, Ibn Saud, annoyed with the company for presenting its letter and with the Syrians for endangering the chances for an all-Arab pipe line, utilized his powerful position and proved to be the needed catalyst. Mr. Lenahan withdrew his letter, and he and the Prime Minister signed the convention at Damascus on September 1; the text was transmitted to the Department the following day in despatch 755.

Under Article IV of the convention, the company was to pay to the Syrian Government 1.5/1000 of one pound sterling for each ton of oil passing across Syria in the company pipe line, with a minimum annual payment of 20,000 pounds sterling. According to telegram 274, September 2, the company, in separate letters, pledged various concessions beyond the terms of the convention, including the provision to Syria of up to 200,000 tons of crude oil annually at fair and reasonable prices, paying all fees in U.S. dollars rather than pounds sterling should the Syrian Government so elect, and giving certain preferences to Syrian labor and to Syrian-produced supplies if competitively priced.

Note: All the above cited communications were sent to the Department by Damascus; they are filed under 890D.00, 890D.6363, and 890E.6363.