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‘File 86/2 IX (C 50) Bahrain Oil’ [‎6r] (24/528)

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The record is made up of 1 volume (262 folios). It was created in 26 Feb 1934-27 Apr 1934. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

Transcription

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(P
.935/1934.
PETROLEUM DEPARTMENT
Mines Department,
Dean Stanley Street,
Millbank,
p.D.21, Part 7
Westminster, London, S.W.l.
8th February 1934
My dear Laithwaite
/
/
With reference to your letter of January 22nd
r a'
regarding the request of the Bahrein Petroleum Company
to be allowed to acquire land on Sitra Island it
appears desirable to give the Company all the
facilities we reasonably can to enable them to produce
oil at an early date and not to afford them any excuse
for delay in taking out the mining lease. It is
understood that the land which it is proposed to allow
the Company to take up on Sitra Island does not conflict
with any of the proposals for the acquisition of land
for the purposes of His Majesty^ Government, and that
being so I entirely agree that the Company should be
informed that they may be allowed to take up the two
areas of land referred to in paragraph 8 of your
letter as a special concession on the part of the Sheikh.
I am sending copies of this letter to Warner and Seal.
I understand that you will make it clear to
Ballantyne that we expect him to take note of this -
another concession - when considering our proposed
amendments to the mining lease.
Yours sincerely,
(Sd.) F.C.STARLING
♦Laithwaite, Esq.,
India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. ,
S.W.l.

About this item

Content

The volume contains letters, telegrams and memoranda relating to oil prospecting undertaken in Bahrain by the Bahrain Petroleum Company (hereafter BAPCO), and the development of BAPCO’s infrastructure. The volume is a direct continuation of ‘File 86/2 VIII (C 49) Bahrain Oil’ (IOR/R/15/1/656). The principal correspondents in the volume are the 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. , Lieutenant-Colonel Trenchard Fowle, the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. in Bahrain, Lieutenant-Colonel Percy Gordon Loch, the Chief Local Representative for BAPCO, Ed Skinner, and the Adviser to the Government of Bahrain, Charles Dalrymple-Belgrave.

Subjects covered by the volume include:

  • The ongoing construction of oil export facilities off Sitrah Island, including a pump station, submarine pipeline, and anchorage with buoys;
  • A request by BAPCO for their vessel El Segundo to use wireless radio communications with BAPCO employees onshore, as well as for long-distance communications with the Company’s head offices in San Francisco. Loch’s consultations with Imperial & International Communications Limited (I&ICL) in Bahrain, and with the Admiralty, result in the former request being agreed, but the latter request being denied, the reason given that I&ICL’s new wireless radio station in Bahrain should be used instead (folios 29-30, 95-105, 176-79, 188-90);
  • Questions of the measurement of oil in order to determine the royalties payable, with a description of how oil in storage tanks should be measured (folios 165-68), where responsibility for measurements should lie, how royalty should be paid (folios 72-76), and a statement of oil saved, used and stored for the period up until 31 December 1933 (folios 118-19);
  • Discussion of who should hold the permanent post of Chief Local Representative for BAPCO, with Belgrave’s name mooted (folio 68), and British officials’ final decision to appoint Ed Skinner, in spite of the fact that the original concession stipulated that a British subject should at all times occupy the position (folio 109), amid continued resistance from the Bahrain ruling family to an American representative (folios 200-02);
  • BAPCO’s refusal to commit to oil refining in Bahrain “in the face of continually uncertain and changeable world-wide market conditions” (folios 242-45), and doubts over the extent of Bahrain’s oil field (folio 115);
  • Government of Bahrain approval for the construction of facilities at Sitrah Island, and for the construction of a permanent BAPCO camp on the mainland, in spite of the fact of a mining lease having not yet commenced (folios 60-61, 64-65);
  • A report on BAPCO activity covering the period until 31 December 1933, including details on the status of wells, list of employees by classification and nationality, and a description of camp buildings (folios 128-33);
  • Settlement in an ongoing dispute between the Government of Bahrain and BAPCO over the categories of goods imported by BAPCO on which duty should be paid, with a list of dutiable and non-dutiable goods (folios 183-84);
  • Details of oil equipment imported on the German Hansa line vessel SS Wachtfels (folios 79-80, 113-14);
  • The Ruler of Bahrain, Shaikh Ḥamad bin ‘Īsá Āl Khalīfah’s insistence that some positions of responsibility be given to native Bahrainis, and complaints over the employment of some foreigners who are ‘notoriously bad characters’ (folios 234-35).
Extent and format
1 volume (262 folios)
Arrangement

The volume’s contents are arranged in approximate chronological order, from the earliest item at the front to the latest at the end. The office notes at the end of the volume (folios 247-52) mirror the chronological arrangement.

Many items of correspondence in the volume are annotated in pencil with page numbers. These page numbers refer to other items within the volume, marked with numbers marked in red and blue pencil.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: There is an incomplete foliation sequence and a complete foliation sequence. The complete sequence, which should be used for cataloguing, is circled in pencil, at the top of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. of each folio. It begins on the first folio after the front cover, on number 1, and ends on the inside of the back cover, on number 258. Foliation anomalies: f 2 is followed by ff 2A-C. Index numbers written in red and blue pencil are part of the volume’s original filing system, and correspondent to the office notes index at the end of the file (ff 247-52).

Written in
English in Latin script
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‘File 86/2 IX (C 50) Bahrain Oil’ [‎6r] (24/528), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/R/15/1/657, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100029315407.0x000019> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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