IOR/R/15/2/583

The file relates to the question of jurisdiction covering the spillage of oil into the waters of the Persian Gulf at Bahrain [also referred to as Bahrein], and actual incidents of oil spillages there. The papers include correspondence from the Political Agent, Kuwait (Captain Maurice Patrick O’Connor Tandy); the Political Agent, Bahrain (Captain Hugh Dunstan Holwell Rance and Assistants); the office of the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf; and the Bahrain Petroleum Company Limited (BAPCO).

The papers include:

• papers concerning the application of the Oil in Navigable Waters Act, 1922 to Kuwait and Bahrain in order to prevent the discharge of oily ballast from tankers and consequent pollution to sea water and shoreline, and injury to fish or pearl oysters, including correspondence between the Political Agent, Kuwait, the Political Agent, Bahrain and the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, June 1946 - August 1947; correspondence from the the Bahrain Petroleum Company Limited, defending the Company's record on pollution and commenting on the terms of the Act, August 1947; copy of Port Information Booklet issued by the Bahrain Petroleum Company, 1946, folios 2-12A, including map showing mooring layout at Sitra Oil Loading Terminal, Bahrain Island on folio 12; and copy of the Oil in Navigable Waters Act, folios 29-33;
• correspondence from the Bahrain Petroleum Company Limited relating to three separate oil spillages in Bahrain waters, June 1947, November 1947, and August 1948.