Agreement Between Sheikh Khazal Al-Kaabi and Britain Supporting the Independence of Ahwaz

On this day in 1909, 115 years ago, British authorities and Sheikh Khazal Al-Kaabi, the ruler of Mohammerah, agreed to allocate a piece of land in Abadan Island to the British for the construction of an oil refinery for Ahwazi oil. According to the agreement, the land would be returned to Sheikh Khazal at the end of the contract term. These negotiations were conducted between Sheikh Khazal and the British agent in Bukhara, Sir Percy Cox, and the agreement was finalized between Sheikh Khazal, the British Consul in Ahwaz, and Sir Arnold Wilson, the British political officer and secretary of the British negotiating delegation.

Under the agreement, a payment of £650 per year was made to Sheikh Khazal as rent for the refinery site, in addition to the extension of oil pipelines extending 130 kilometers from the Ahwazi oil fields in Masjed Soleiman to the Abadan refinery. The agreement also included support for the independence of Ahwaz against Iranian claims and a pledge to provide military assistance to Ahwaz in the event of any aggression. This agreement is considered evidence of the land’s ownership and the sovereignty of the Arabs over it before its Iranian occupation in 1925.

Sir Arnold Wilson, in his memoirs, confirmed that by 1913, the construction of the refinery and the shipping pier was completed, and oil exports began. The production of the Abadan refinery reached approximately 270,000 tons in 1914, and increased to 900,000 tons per year after the end of World War I, as the fuel for the British fleet shifted from coal to oil.

At that time, the Abadan refinery was the largest oil refinery in the world, and the Ahwazis exported Ahwazi kerosene to the Arabian Peninsula. In 1917, Britain occupied Baghdad, and the Kingdom of Iraq was established in 1921. Ahwazi oil accounted for about 90% of the income of the Iranian occupying state before the current U.S. sanctions on Iran.