The red line was drawn on a map to define the territories formerly under the sovereignty of the Ottoman Empire, and the agreement stated that participants in the IPC consortium pledged to be involved in the exploitation of any oil to be discovered within the red line exclusively through consortia with the same composition as the IPC. Hence, if one of the IPC consortium members were to discover any oil or obtain a concession elsewhere within the red line, it would have to offer this asset to the remaining members in the same ‘geometry’ as in the IPC.
A map delineating territories formerly under Ottoman rule was used to define boundaries for oil exploration. The agreement stipulated that any oil discovered within these boundaries would be exclusively exploited by consortia with the same composition as the IPC consortium. If an IPC member found oil elsewhere within the red line, they were required to offer it to the other members in the same structure as the original IPC consortium.