'File 86/2 IV (C 43) Bahrain Oil; Eastern and General Syndicate Limited'

The volume contains letters, telegrams and memoranda relating to ongoing exploratory oil drilling being undertaken in Bahrain by the Bahrain Petroleum Company (hereafter BAPCO). The volume is a direct continuation of 'File 86/2 III (C 42) Bahrain Oil, Eastern and General Syndicate Limited' (IOR/R/15/1/651). The principal correspondents in the volume are Lieutenant-Colonel Trenchard Fowle, Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, Lieutenant-Colonel Percy Gordon Loch, Political Agent in Bahrain, and Major Frank Holmes, Chief Local Representative of the Bahrain Petroleum Company. Key subjects discussed in the volume include:. Discussion amongst British officials in Bahrain and London over whether BAPCO are fulfilling conditions C and D of their contractual obligations in the concession agreement, respectively: the long periods of absence from Bahrain of the Chief Local Representative of the Company (Holmes), and the proportion of British to non-British workers employed by BAPCO; A dispute over exemption of duty on equipment imported by BAPCO; Whether oil royalties should be paid in Indian rupees or Sterling; A request by BAPCO for an extension of the prospecting license, including Holmes's offer of terms and a draft indenture (folios 68-72), and the Ruler of Bahrain, Shaikh Ḥamad bin 'Īsá Āl Khalīfah's rejection of Holmes's offer (folios 86-91); A map of the prospective location of the British naval base at Bahrain (folio 117a); Enquiries by the Anglo-Persian Oil Company after a concession for those parts of Bahrain not covered by the existing BAPCO concession; The volume also contains a set of notes which provide a concise overview of the Bahrain concession to date, including details of the commercial viability of Bahrain's oil, under the heading 'exploitable quantity' (folios 58-64).

The volume's contents are arranged in approximate chronological order, from the earliest items at the front to the latest at the rear. Office notes at the end of the volume (folios 210-16) mirror the chronological arrangement. The subject index at the front of the volume (folio 2) refers to the uncircled numbers used by the volume's original foliation system.

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