Abstract: The volume contains letters, telegrams and memoranda relating to oil production in Bahrain, being undertaken by the Bahrain Petroleum Company (hereafter BAPCO). The volume is a direct continuation of ‘File 86/2 XI (C 53) Bahrain Oil’ (IOR/R/15/1/659). The principal correspondents in the volume are the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, Lieutenant-Colonel Trenchard Fowle, the Political Agent in Bahrain, Lieutenant-Colonel Percy Gordon Loch, BAPCO’s London representative, Hamilton Ballantyne, and various British Government officials, chiefly Gilbert Laithwaite of the India Office.The subjects covered by the volume are:Ongoing negotiations between the British Government and BAPCO over the terms of BAPCO’s mining lease for Bahrain, with particular emphasis in this volume on: amendments to wording related to the termination of the lease; discussion over the definition of the term “uncultivated land” with regard to BAPCO’s selection of land for the mining lease, with particular reference to land owned by the ruling family, and uncultivated land in the urban areas of Manama and Muharraq (folios 103-04, 114-15);The preparation of an Arabic translation of the mining lease (folios 83-98), initially prepared by the Political Agency in Bahrain, reviewed by the Assistant Librarian of the India Office in London (folios 147-49), with subsequent changes to the wording proposed (folios 211-15);Arrangement for power of attorney for the mining lease, with a copy of the power of attorney (folios 151-56);Protest by British officials in Bahrain, and by Shaikh Ḥamad bin ‘Īsá Āl Khalīfah, Ruler of Bahrain (folio 109), over the unauthorised landing of a French aeroplane at Bahrain, carrying the French Chargé D’Affaires from Baghdad, with a copy of the visa rules for Bahrain (folio 112) and an Iraq Government air clearance certificate (folio 113);Production of oil in Bahrain, including difficulties encountered by BAPCO in marketing their Bahrain oil, leading to speculation that the Iraq Petroleum Company may become involved in Bahrain production, possibly at BAPCO’s cost (folios 69-72, 143), and reports of the despatch to Bahrain of the Standard Oil tanker
Rheemin December 1934, to collect 100,000 barrels (15,000 tons) of oil from Bahrain (folios 194, 204-07).Physical description: Foliation: The volume is foliated from the title page to the last folio, using pencil numbers written in the top-right corner of each recto. Index numbers written in red and blue pencil are part of the volume’s original filing system, and correspond to the office notes index at the end of the volume (ff 221-25). The following foliation anomalies occur: 1, 1A, 1B and 1C; 113 and 113A; 136 and 136A; 187 and 187A.
Abstract: This file contains correspondence relating to the mining of bitumen from the Burgan oil field in Kuwait. The correspondents include engineers in the British Army, the Kuwait Oil Company, and various merchants involved in the transport and shipping of commodities between Kuwait and Iraq.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 140; 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 comprises copies of letters, telegrams and other papers relating to: i) the export of petroleum industry equipment from the Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO) at Bahrain and the California-Arabian Standard Oil Company (CASOC) at Al Khobar [Al-Khubar], including: baker cement retainers to the Burmah Oil Company (India Trading) Limited; welding machines to the Burmah Shell Oil Storage & Distributing Company of India Limited; piping to the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC) refinery at Abadan; and ii) the export of petroleum coke from BAPCO, Bahrain, to Port Said [Muḩāfaz̧at Būr Sa‘īd], Egypt. Correspondents in the file include: the Political Agent at Bahrain (Edward Birkbeck Wakefield; Major Tom Hickinbotham); the Chief Local Representative of BAPCO (chiefly Ward P Anderson and R M Brown); representatives of CASOC (chiefly Charles E Davis and Floyd William Ohliger); H S Bowlby of the Petroleum Division, at the British Embassy in Baghdad; representatives of the Middle East Supply Centre (MESC), Cairo; representatives of Gray, Mackenzie & Company, Bahrain.The file includes:papers relating to the shipment of and payment for equipment and supplies from BAPCO and CASOC (packing lists, purchase orders, invoices, shipping arrangements), including correspondence concerning confusion over shipments from BAPCO to the Burmah Oil Company (India Trading) Limited, caused by a lack of specific order instructions;correspondence from May 1943 relating to four welding machines despatched by CASOC to the Burmah-Shell Oil Storage & Distributing Company, their poor condition, with only one machine in working order, the return of the machines to CASOC, and dispute between CASOC and Burmah-Shell over the machines (ff 65-68, ff 84-86, ff 90-91, f 93, f 97, ff 114-117);correspondence from October 1943 relating to the export, co-ordinated by MESC, of petroleum coke (also referred to in the file as ‘Bahrain smalls’) by BAPCO to Port Said, for briquetting and use as fuel. Correspondence includes: a BAPCO memorandum on coke supplies at Bahrain (ff 40-41); an initial export of 500 tons of coke in late 1943; subsequent proposals for monthly coke exports; provision of sacks for the transport of coke; the development of facilities for bulk loading of coke at Bahrain, including a report on arrangements for bulk loading, prepared by Major J D Boyd of the Royal Engineers (ff 135-144); 1944 correspondence between BAPCO and MESC discussing the difficulties of production and bulk loading of coke at Bahrain (ff 185-189, ff 195-196, ff 200-202); proposals for the commencement of bulk loading of coke at Bahrain in January 1945;correspondence relating to an altercation, occurring in March 1944, between an American officer and a policeman and toll-gate keeper in Bahrain (ff 132-133, f 145);the theft of small arms ammunition during the unloading of a vessel (the SS
Cromarty) at Sharjah in April 1944 (ff 145-146, ff 154-157);correspondence dated May 1944 relating to BAPCO equipment requirements for the Aviation Octane Project (ff 170-177).The file includes a letter (f 21) which is erroneously dated as 28 January 1953, instead of 28 January 1943.Physical description: Foliation: the main foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 267; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto of each folio. An additional foliation sequence is present in parallel between ff 2-253; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled, and are located in the same position as the main sequence. An additional mixed foliation/pagination sequence is also present in parallel between ff 254-266; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.
Abstract: The file contains an original copy of the Bahrain oil concession agreement, dated 12 May 1923, agreed between Major Frank Holmes of The Eastern & General Syndicate Limited, and Shaikh Esa bin Ali Al-Khalifa [‘Īsá bin ‘Alī Āl Khalīfa]. The concession is typewritten in English, with an Arabic translation added by hand in black ink. Each page of the concession has been stamped ‘For and on behalf of The Eastern & General Syndicate, Limited’ and is signed by Holmes. The last page of text of the concession (folio 20) has also been signed by a witness, Mr W Hendry, of Dumbarton, Scotland. The final page of the agreement (folio 21) is a map of the northern half of the Persian Gulf. The cover of the file bears the broken remains of a wax seal, inscribed ‘The Eastern Bank Limited, Baghdad’.Physical description: Foliation: Foliation is circled in pencil, at the top of the recto of each folio. It begins on the front cover, on number 1, and ends on the inside of the back cover, on number 22. An original foliation system using typewritten numbers at the top and centre of each recto, runs from ff 2-20.
Abstract: The file contains two despatches from the Political Agent, Bahrain, informing the India Office of export licences granted to the Bahrain Petroleum Company for shipment of petroleum and petroleum products to Persia.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 4; 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 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.