the rivalry between anglo-iranian oil company and royal dutch shell (1909-1918)

it seems we might be allowed to trace a serious rivalry between two great oil companies of great britain, i.e. anglo-iranian oil company and royal dutch shell- at the eve of 20th century. this presumed rivalry itself seemed to be a result of two important developments in british industry: conversion of the fuel consumption of british navy from coal to petrol; a development which raised the competition between these two british companies for obtaining the new type of fuel. the other was the establishment of turkish oil company which these two great british companies rivaled to acquire more contributions of its stocks. a look on the historical process of this rivalry shows that the british state has contributed to it; because of british state’s support of anglo-persian oil company, the rivalry proved to be more fruitful for the latter. the present paper is an attempt to shed light on this rivalry and the british government’s role in it. it based on an analytical – descriptive study of available documents in english and persian both published and unpublished.