Catalogue description Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Commodities and Oil Department and successors: Registered Files (MC and ML Series)

The Commodities and Oil Department was formed in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office by merging the predecessor Foreign Office Oil Department with those elements of former Foreign Office and Commonwealth Office departments which dealt with agricultural and industrial commodity questions. The new Department's role was to handle all questions relating to international agreements concerning supplies of and trade in oil and gas, industrial raw materials, and tropical and temperate zone agricultural produce. The Department was split in 1969 into separate Oil and Commodities Departments. The Oil Department handled oil and gas questions, and the Commodities Department all other commodities.

Both the departments were wound up at the end of 1972, in a general reorganisation of the business of the FCO resulting from UK membership of the European communities. The work of the Commodities Department passed to the Trade Relations Department, while the Oil Department was merged into a new Industry, Science and Energy Department.