IOR/R/15/2/761

The file contains copies of correspondence, reports and other papers concerning oil storage facilities requested by the United States Army Transport Corps (USATC) at Muharraq airfield in Bahrain. The principal correspondents in the file are: the Political Agent at Bahrain (Major Tom Hickinbotham); the Royal Air Force (RAF) Air Liaison Officer (ALO) at Bahrain, Squadron Leader W A Chase; representatives of the Air Ministry and India Office.

The file includes:

• correspondence and notes, chiefly written by the Political Agent at Bahrain during the period November to December 1943, concerning meetings held with the ALO at Bahrain, US Army and RAF officials, concerning the USATC’s requests for Bahrain and Sharjah (specifically, aviation fuel supplies, accommodation and wireless facilities at Bahrain), in anticipation of the increased movement of US troops to the Far East theatre of war (ff 2-36);
• correspondence dated 1944 concerning the installation of a pipeline to carry aviation fuel from the Bahrain Petroleum Company’s (BAPCO) refinery to the RAF jetty at Manama and airfield at Muharraq, and fuel storage tanks at Muharraq. Correspondence concerning the fuel storage tanks occupies much of the remainder of the file, and includes correspondence between various parties including the Political Agent at Bahrain, the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Geoffrey Prior) and India Office and Air Ministry officials. The correspondence includes: BAPCO objection to the erection of tanks on behalf of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC), who supply aviation fuel to the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) and RAF at Muharraq; proposals for the RAF to purchase and install fuel tanks; legal questions over whether the storage of AOIC fuel for use by BOAC at Bahrain contravenes the exclusive rights BAPCO holds with the Government of Bahrain; the Air Ministry’s assertion of its right to construct and maintain fuel storage facilities at Bahrain for its air stations (f 120).