 These three gentlemen discussed future prospects of Persian oil, and involved de Morgan and Cotte's brother-in-law in search of realising oil project in Persia.General Kitabgi successfully persuaded Wolff's friend William Knox D'Arcy, a British entrepreneur, to develop the country’s oil possibilities.After agreeing to finance this venture early in 1901, he sent Alfred Marriott, a cousin of his private secretary, to Tehran to negotiate for a concession to explore for oil in Persia.