IOR/R/15/1/656

The volume contains letters, telegrams, maps and memoranda relating to oil prospecting undertaken in Bahrain by the Bahrain Petroleum Company (hereafter BAPCO), and the development of an oil infrastructure. The volume is a direct continuation of ‘File 86/2 VII (C 48) Bahrain Oil’ (IOR/R/15/1/655). The principal correspondents in the volume are the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, Lieutenant-Colonel Trenchard Fowle, and the Political Agent in Bahrain, Lieutenant-Colonel Percy Gordon Loch.

Subjects covered by the volume include:

• Construction of a submarine pipeline, ship anchorage and other facilities at Sitrah Island by BAPCO;
• Construction of wireless facilities for BAPCO’s operation, pending approval by Imperial & International Wireless Limited and Imperial Airways;
• Installation of buoys for the BAPCO anchorage (including details and location of buoys, folio 16), pending approval by the Government of India which holds responsibility for buoying in the Gulf; also concerns over the proximity of the anchorage to fish traps;
• British Government officials’ preference for Admiralty cooperation in surveying the area for a proposed anchorage, over the involvement of the U.S. Marine (folio 30);
• The despatch (folio 84) and arrival (folio 222) of an American vessel, the El Segundo, to Bahrain, with a workforce for the construction of the pipeline and other facilities and the despatch of a German steamer, the Wachtfells, with materials (folios 86-87);
• British officials’ concerns regarding the forty-five American workers on board the El Segundo (folio 116): the effects of their presence in Bahrain, and the question of a need for visas (folios 135-36, 139-40);
• Wider concern over the numbers of foreign workers employed by BAPCO in Bahrain, with details of the nationalities and classes of workers employed by BAPCO in January 1934 (folio 138);
• Questions over whether oil refining will be carried out in Bahrain, which is strongly advocated by the Ruler of Bahrain, Shaikh Ḥamad bin ‘Īsá Āl Khalīfah, and his Government (folio 83);
• BAPCO acquisition of land in Bahrain, in relation to the prospecting and mining licenses, including land for shipping facilities at Sitrah, and plans for a permanent camp (folios 209-10);
• A dispute between the British Government and BAPCO over the interpretation of a clause in the concession agreement, relating to the waiving of duty paid on the import of equipment by the oil company. The dispute relates to whether such items as food goods and furniture can be classified as company equipment;
• Questions over the replacement of Ed Skinner, Chief Local Representative of BAPCO;
• Minutes of India Office meetings, in which the status of the Qatar concession, with reference to such issues as risks facing exploration, boundary issues, British and foreign representation, and the involvement of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company are discussed (folios 37-58, 93-110).