Holmes’s activities alarmed, in particular, the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, which did not want anyone else operating within its “sphere of influence,” causing trouble that could interfere with its operations in Persia. The company, to be sure, was convinced that there was no oil to be found in Arabia. In the words of John Cadman, the geological reports “leave little room for optimism,” and one of the company’s directors had declared in 1926 that Saudi Arabia appeared “devoid of all prospects” for oil. (Albania, the director had added, was the promising oil play.)
