Negotiations with the Mozaffar al-Din Shah Qajar began in 1901, and with the offer of £20,000 (£formatnum: million today),UK for a sixty-year concession to explore for oil— later, the D'Arcy concession —was secured in May, covering 480000 sqmi , and stipulated that D'Arcy would have the oil rights to the entire country except for five provinces in Northern Iran.