Coll 6/48 'Oil: Concessions in Saudi Arabia. (Hasa)' [‎16r] (31/1153)

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(Received under Bahrain D,0.Letter Bo.G/369, dated 15.3.43).
VISIT TO AL KHOBAR.
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I left Bahrain in the GASOG launch at 1®45 p®ie. on 9 v ^h March and
arrived at A1 Khobar four hours later. l was met at the pier by Mr.
Ohliger (Resident Manager, GASOG), Shaikh Abdullah al Radhl (Ibn Saud’s
Personal Representative with CASOG, who is also acting as Saudi Trade
Agent in Bahrain) and Shaikh Mohammad bin Mathi, Amir of Al Khobar.
Before motoring out with Mr. Ohliger to the CASOC Camp at Dhahran 8
miles away I spent half an hour taking coffee with the Amir of Al Kho
bar in his house. The house is a ramshackle building, dirty and ill-
kept. it is approached by a narrow and unsavoury passage at the en
trance to which a small guard of honour, composed of police dressed In ~
c^uasi-military clothes, was drawn up in a ragged line.
2. On the morning of March 10th 1 motored with Mr.Ohliger to Ras
Tanura, 60 miles away. We took the inland road which is, on the whole,
in good condition. For much of the way the road runs beside the pipe
line connecting the Compands oil field at Dhahran with the refinery
at Has Tanura. Opposite Tarut Island the road crosses one of the
landing grounds which the Oil Company prepared in the summer of 1942 for
..emergency use by R.A.P*. aircraft travelling between Basrah or Kuwait and
Bahrain.
3. The refinery at Ras Tanura is a small one with a maximum through
put of only 3000 to 3500 barrels per day. So small a unit is not
economic and Mr. Ohliger told me, in response to my enquiries on this
subject, that it had only been erected by the Company in order to com
ply with the conditions of their Concession. The refinery is not
at present being operated though a stock of kerosene (brought over
bj/ oa*ge fi gej ^aiirain) is kept in one of the storage tanks for supply
to the Saudi Government when required. near the refinery is a large
r - v * ^ barasti huts - a labour camp which is at present un
occupied. The Company 1 s installations at Ras Tanura are looked after
by two American employees whose sole duty is to see that the plant
and installations are kept in good repair.
4. ^ The M.B.S.C. propose to use Ras Tanura as a port of entry for
foodstuffs supplied by them to the Saudi Government for consumption in
Bast Saudi Arabia. 1 was anxious to see, therefore, what facilities
existed at Ras Tanura for the handling of imports. The sea approach
is good. There is an anchorage off the eastern point of Raa Tanura
close to shore, suitable for freighters or tankers, and cargoes would
have to be carried less than a mile by lighters to a sheltered jetty
west Qj. the poirt of Ras Tanura. This jetty, which is equipped with
a crane, belongs to the Oil Company, but they would, it is understood,
have no objection to its use by the Saudi Government. it seems to me
thai the main difficulty in using Ras Tanura now as a port of supply
would be the lack of adequate storage. There is only one godownUn ex
tension of a Turakish building now used as a customs house) approx-
iEi-ately 90 ft. long by 60 ft. broad. This did not appear to be in
good repair, unless the Saudi Government are able to arrange immediate
transportation for imports as they arrive - inland by lorries or to
coasta- towns by country craft - foodstuffs in excess of what can be
accommodated in the single godown will have to be stacked in the open
with the danger - indeed the certainty of rapid deterioration. *
^5 a ® Ta ? ura } motored to ^atif where I was entertained to tea
oy Shaikh Mashan, Amir of <^atif and brother of the Amir of Al Khobar.
Bor some miles before entering ^atif the road from the north runs
through thick date gardens watered mainly from natural springs. The
comprises a collection of the most dilapidated stone'and
°, ta 5, bu ; ldings that 1 have Qver seen. 'There were, however, signs ox
^actiTity in two directions. The road leading into ^atif from'the
cith #ae being systematically widened even though this involved cut.
ng down a number osf date palms; and there was a lot of movement
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