Eighty-six years ago today, on August 7, 1939 (June 22, 1939), Mobil Oil Company was granted permission to drill for Arabian oil. On August 7, 1939, King Ibn-Saud granted the Mobil Oil Company of California the privilege of drilling for oil throughout Saudi Arabia. Although the king received $1.50 million worth of gold, which would be paid $1.50 million a year, and a royalty on the oil the company found, the decision to award the concession to an American company was made because of the king's distrust of other countries. Italy has been trying to get this lucrative concession for several years, and more recently with the help of Germany. Britain and France are also eager to try. According to Ibn Saud to Mobil agents, the Japanese offered three times as much as the Americans, asking for only a third of the oil concession, but were rejected. The king chose the American company because the United States does not have the same political ambitions towards his country as other countries. Mobil already has a smaller oil concession in Saudi Arabia, which is shared by another American oil company, Texas Petroleum.