Abstract: This file consists of a letter, telegrams, report, notes and maps between Francis Anthony Kitchener Harrison of the India Office and W D Monsell-Davis of the Ministry of Fuel and Power regarding the visit of Dr Nuttall to the Middle East. Dr Nuttall visited different oil companies and oilfields as a technical adviser on behalf of the Petroleum Division. Attached to the file are a report and a map produced by Dr Nuttall after his visit. The visit included stops at Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and Kirkuk.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 16, these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.
Abstract: The file details the Government of India’s financial and administrative responsibilities towards the Persian Gulf. The text is divided into sections: ‘Iran’ (folio 2), ‘Persian Gulf’ (folios 2 to 3), ‘The Air Route’ (folio 3), ‘Oil’ (folios 3 to 4) and ‘Defence Measures’ (folios 3 to 5).The papers provide information on the Government of India’s past and current responsibilities and relations with Iran. Also discussed are concerns over a potential Russian advance through Afghanistan and Persian-German relations which in part are attributed to the reign of Reza Shah [Shah of Iran, Pahlavi dynasty].The significance of the Persian Gulf as a strategic and commercial air route to India, and as a source of oil, now and in the future is discussed. Further highlighted is the responsibility of the Foreign Office and other departments to conduct relations with the Arab states of Kuwait, Bahrein, Qatar, the Trucial Coast and Muscat, and the implementation of wartime defence methods in the region.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 6; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.
Abstract: The file consists of papers regarding an investigation by the Committee of Imperial Defence, Standing Official Sub-Committee for Questions Concerning the Middle East relating to the employment of German nationals in oil installations, particularly by the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company Limited and Iraq Petroleum Company.It contains: notes from the War Office, Petroleum Department, and Secretary to the Sub-Committee; and agendas and minutes for Sub-Committee meetings on 20 December 1938 and 1 May 1939. The file includes a divider which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 22; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.
Abstract: The file contains papers received or created by the Commonwealth Relations Office (CRO) relating to the Middle East (Official) Committee. It mostly consists of papers circulated to members of the Committee, received by the CRO. The file also includes: a few items of CRO correspondence with the Cabinet Office and the Offices of the United Kingdom High Commissioners in Karachi and Pretoria; and a register of papers relating to the Committee received or sent by the CRO, with internal CRO correspondence relating to the file, at the back of the file.The circulated Committee papers consist of:The agendas for, and minutes of, the Committee meetings of 3 and 17 January 1950, at which was discussed Washington discussions on economic and social development in the Middle East, the utilisation of surplus oil revenues in the Persian Gulf, technical assistance to the Middle East, and possible requirements of Middle East governments for sterling assistance for economic development.Papers prepared by the Working Party of the Committee on economic and social development in Sudan, the Persian Gulf States, and technical assistance to the Middle East.A paper stating the Committee’s general policy regarding the promotion of social progress in the Middle East, entitled ‘The Social and Internal Political Implications of Economic Development in the Middle East’, prepared as a brief for the discussions of the Committee Chairman, Michael Wright, with the United States State Department.A record of discussions between Wright and the State Department, on long-range development in the Middle East, held on 14 and 17 November 1949.Minutes of meetings between Wright, and other Foreign Office and British Embassy representatives, and the International Bank, held on 21, 22 and 23 November 1949, and a joint memorandum summarising the result of the discussions.The final report of the United Nations Economic Survey Mission for the Middle East, entitled ‘An Approach to Economic Development in the Middle East’.The United Nations Resolution of 8 December 1949 to set up a Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East.Other papers relating to technical assistance to the Middle East, and possible requests by Middle East Governments for sterling assistance in connection with their development projects in 1950 and 1951.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 161; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
Abstract: The file concerns the administration and finances of the state of Koweit [Kuwait], and in particular the proposed appointment of a British Financial Adviser to the Shaikh of Kuwait [Shaikh Aḥmad al-Jābir Āl Ṣabāḥ], a role similar to that of Charles Dalrymple Belgrave in Bahrain. This was against the background of the increasing revenues of Kuwait, derived from the country's burgeoning oil industry. A Foreign Office letter of March 1948 expressed concern that Kuwait and Bahrain, which were relatively two of the more important of the Gulf shaikhdoms, did not appear to have realised that 'the increasing strategic and economic importance of their states' demanded an improvement in their present standard of administration in order to carry out a programme of administrative and social reform, and so avoid political agitation and economic unrest in the future (folio 6).The papers include correspondence on the subject from the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, and the Political Agent, Kuwait; statements of account of the Kuwait Revenue Department, 1945-47 (folios 41-44); papers concerning the management of Kuwait's finances; and discussion of the names of possible candidates from the Indian Political Service to fill the position of Financial Adviser.The file includes a divider, which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 74; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio
Abstract: The file relates to the preparation of the following Foreign Office confidential print: 'Note on Petroleum Developments in the Arabian Peninsula. (Prepared in the Petroleum Department, June 1938)', dated 11 June 1938.The file includes the original Petroleum Department version of the paper, dated May 1938; an amended copy drafted by the Foreign Office, containing additional information concerning Nejd; correspondence containing further amendments proposed by the India Office, and by the Petroleum Department (including draft of the position on the pre-emption of oil in the event of an emergency); and printed version of the document (folios 4-6).The file includes a divider, which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 34; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.
Abstract: The file concerns a request by Petroleum Development (Qatar) Limited to the India Office that a British Government survey vessel should survey the north-east coast of the Qatar Peninsula between Ras Umm Hasah and Ras Luffain [Ra's Lafān]. The area between those two places had been identified by the company as the only possible site for a sea loading terminal in Qatar.In reply, the Military Branch of the Admiralty stated that they had no plans to survey the area, and declined to assist the company further.The file includes a divider, which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 8; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.
Abstract: The file concerns the question ('Qn' in the file title) of whether the British Government required a pre-emption agreement (to commandeer oil in case of national emergency) in the case of oil from Hasa.The file includes correspondence on the matter from the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf; minutes by India Office officials; and comments from the Admiralty, the Petroleum Department, and the Foreign Office.The papers discuss the political and contractual position. The Political Resident confirms in a letter dated 23 January 1940 that all Hasa oil that was imported for refining in Bahrain was bought by the Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO) from the California Arabian Standard Oil Company (CASOC). This, in the opinion of British officials, would facilitate the commandeering of oil if necessary (folio 3)The file includes a divider, which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 35; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.
Abstract: The file contains papers relating to the oil concessions and operations of the Iraq Petroleum Company and the British Oil Development Company in Iraq.It includes:Papers concerning payments due to the Government of Iraq from these companies.Papers of the Committee of Imperial Defence Standing Sub-Committee for Questions Concerning the Middle East, dated 1933, concerning the British Oil Development Company’s proposed pipeline from its concession near Mosul to the Mediterranean.Papers regarding the official opening of the Iraq Petroleum Company’s pipeline connecting the oil-field at Kirkuk with the Mediterranean port of Haifa, on 14 January 1935.The papers include India Office minute papers, correspondence, and three newspaper cuttings from
The Times. The correspondence is largely between Sir Francis Henry Humphrys, HM Ambassador to Iraq (HM Representative, Baghdad), and Sir John Simon, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. Other correspondents include: the India Office; the High Commissioner of Iraq; the Colonial Office; Sir John Cadman, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Iraq Petroleum Company; and the [British Government] Petroleum Department (Mines Department).The file includes a divider, which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 89; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
Abstract: The file contains monthly statements of petroleum products exports from Bahrain for the period July 1936 - February 1948 inclusive. The statements were sent by the Political Agency, Bahrain to the India Office (and other British Government departments), and the information was provided by the Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO). The statements were originally (1937) sent in response to a request by the Petroleum Department for monthly statistics of the destinations of oil shipments from Bahrain, in order to assess royalties payable by the company.The statements provide the following information: date of departure (later, date of loading), name of vessel, quality of oil shipped, quantity (in tons), destination, and (from 1940) bunkers (diesel or fuel, in tons).From 1945, the statements also provide summaries (in long tons; later, in tons); and (from 1946) reports of actual refinery operations (in tons of 2240 lbs).The file includes a divider, which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 389; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.
Abstract: The file contains monthly royalty delivery tickets issued by the Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO), for the period June 1936 to December 1938 inclusive. The tickets give figures for net tons of crude oil delivered to the BAPCO refinery, on which royalty was paid to the Government of Bahrain (referred throughout as Bahrein). The tickets are witnessed by the State Engineer (and Assistant State Engineer) of the Government of Bahrain. The file also contains summaries of oil deliveries upon which gross royalty was accrued, for the period September to December 1938; some BAPCO correspondence relating to the tickets; and covering letters from the Political Agency, Bahrain to the India Office.The file includes a divider, which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 489; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.
Abstract: The file contains copies of royalty delivery tickets (statistical forms, giving totals of bulk crude oil deliveries to refinery), and marine receipt tickets (giving totals of crude oil received from Ras Tanura), issued by the Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO), together with summaries of oil deliveries upon which gross royalty was accrued, for the months of January to December 1939 inclusive. The forms are witnessed by the State Engineer of the Government of Bahrain. The file also contains covering letters from the Political Agent, Bahrain, forwarding the forms to the India Office.The file includes a divider, which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 565; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.