IOR/L/PS/12/3950

The file concerns the establishment of a 100 octane aviation fuel production plant at the refinery of the Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO) at Bahrain. The plant was to cost $18 million, and be 75% financed by the United States (US) Government.

The papers cover: correspondence from the Government of India, the Ministry of Fuel and Power, the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, the Political Agent, Bahrain, and BAPCO; a projected increase in the number of US citizens in Bahrain as a result of the construction of the plant, and a proposal by the US State Department for a US consulate in Bahrain, May-June 1943; proposals by BAPCO to use free Italian workmen from Eritrea in the construction of the plant, because of a failure to obtain local labour, September-October 1944; the Ministry of Fuel and Power's desire to assist the US in the production of aviation fuel within the British sphere of influence (folio 41); the opposition of the Shaikh of Bahrain to the proposed use of Italian workmen (see particularly the Political Resident's telegram of 5 October 1944 (folio 35), and minutes of meeting at the Ministry of Fuel and Power, dated 20 October 1944 (folios 28-29)); the proposed recruitment of Iraqi workmen instead, October 1944; the use of Italians at Ras Tanura [Ra’s Tannūrah] (folio 23) and Dhahran (folio 15); and correspondence concerning production at the plant, 1945-46.

There is no correspondence dated 1940-41.

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.