IOR/L/PS/12/3905

The file concerns a proposed levy for light dues at Bahrain on ships belonging to the Bahrain Petroleum Company Limited (BAPCO). The measure was proposed by the Government of India in 1936, and further pressure was applied by the Persian Gulf Lighting Service Advisory Committee in 1940. The latter claim was said to have been instigated by the British India Steam Navigation Company Limited, which paid dues on 'every one of their steamers that visits Bahrain, whereas a very large number of tankers with a far greater tonnage escape scot-free' (Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Geoffrey Prior, Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, 12 April 1940, folios 204-210).

The negotiations over the dues extended to include contributions to the work of the Persian Gulf Lighting Service as a whole, and also included the California Arabian Standard Oil Company (CASOC, later the Arabian American Oil Company). By 1946 it was said that negotiations had been going on for 'two or three years without any appreciable result' (folio 10).

The papers include correspondence from the India Office; the Foreign Office; the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf; the Government of India; and the oil companies involved, particularly their representative, Hamilton R Ballantyne.

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.