IOR/R/15/2/679

The file comprises papers relating to oil exports made by the Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO), and to a lesser extent the California-Arabian Standard Oil Company (CASOC), and the need for regulation of oil exports during wartime. The principal correspondents in the file are the Political Agent at Bahrain (Hugh Weightman) and the Chief Local Representative of BAPCO (Dr Roger Anthony Kennedy).

Following the implementation of an oil export licensing system for Bahrain oil exports, covered by Regulation No. 1 of 1940 of the Persian Gulf States (Emergency) Order in Council 1939 (ff 46-51, f 63, ff 68-69, f 75, f 254), BAPCO were required to seek approval for all shipments of oil exported out of Bahrain from the Political Agent, who in turn telegraphed the India Office in London for approval. For approved shipments, the Political Agent issued BAPCO with an export licence. The majority of the file is comprised of papers governed by this process: 1) BAPCO export licence applications, signed by Kennedy; 2) telegrams from the Political Agent to the India Office, requesting approval to grant the licence; 3) approval from the India Office; 4) copies of the export licence granted by the Political Agent; 5) copies of the shipment notice, issued by BAPCO.

Also included in the file: an undated memorandum outlining the specific details of oil shipments from Bahrain that should be sent to the Secretary of State for India, Government of India and Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, including: name of ship, date of sailing, tonnage of oil product; destination; and name of consignee (f 5); a Government circular from the Ministry of Economic Warfare, dated 3 October 1939, concerning the rationing of neutral countries, with particular reference to the Scandinavian countries (f 18); correspondence between the Political Agent and CASOC, relating to the issue of Bills of Lading for oil shipments from Saudi Arabia (ff 18-32); a circular from the British Legation in Tehran, May 1940, relating to the supply of instructions for the Navicert system (the certification used by British consular officials in exempting non-contraband consignments from seizure or search by British blockade patrols, ff 42-45).