File 10/5 II Hasa oil: CASOC's activities in Hasa; development of Ras Tannura; Political Agent's visit to Hasa [‎149r] (302/656)

D#0» No# C/337-10/5 Bated the 20th May 1939•
Dear Sir Trenchard,
■ ' , ■ - •- ■ ^ " , ' , ; . r I, " ■ ; ^ .
I arrived back at Bahrein late on Friday night after
a visit- to Haaa lasting 4^ days# As I v/ent across as the' guest
of the California Arabian Standard Oil Company in order to be
shown something of the work that the Oil Company is doing across
\
I there, I think it will be appropriate for my report to be in
demi-official rather than official form. covered nearly 1000
miles In four days' travelling, and naturally my observations
had to be of a very general nature.
2« I arrived at Dharan on the evening of the 15th May, having
had slight trouble with the Police and Customs at A1 Khobar
since they had succeeded in misplacing the letter of authority
for me to lend and to receive customs facilities. It is some
14 months since I last saw Dharan and the, development and expan
sion there during this time have been enormous. They now have
six wells producing, or on the point of producing, from the
deep horizon, and they have just started work on well No# 17
(in numberliag their wells they include the old shallow horizon
wells which were almost totally unproductive). The American
personnel numbers close on 300 and the construction of air-condi
tioned houses, mess hall, commissary, etc., proceeds apace.
It was a little difficult to ascertain figures of actual and
potential production at Dharan but I gather that a minimum
daily production of 10,000 barrels is already assured, and that
potential production is not likely to be short of 30,000 barrels.
There are five "strings of tools" working at present at Bharan,
plus/-
Sonourable Lieutenant Colonel
Sir Trenchard Fowle, K.C.I.S., C.B,^.
Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ,
Bushire.