'File 86/2 VII (C 48) Bahrain Oil'

The volume contains letters, telegrams and memoranda relating to oil prospecting being undertaken in Bahrain by the Bahrain Petroleum Company (hereafter BAPCO). The volume is a direct continuation of 'File 86/2 VI (C 46) Bahrain Oil' (IOR/R/15/1/654). The principal correspondents in the volume are the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, Lieutenant-Colonel Trenchard Fowle, the Political Agent in Bahrain, Lieutenant-Colonel Percy Gordon Loch, the Chief Local Representative in Bahrain for BAPCO, Ed Skinner, and British Government officials from the India Office and Petroleum/Mining Department in London. Key subjects discussed in the volume include:. Negotiations over the proposed extension of the prospecting license until 2 January 1935, and the anticipated mining lease, with particular attention given to the financial payments and royalties payable to the ruling family of Bahrain; Acceptance by the ruler, Shaikh Ḥamad bin 'Īsá Āl Khalīfah, on 19 November 1933, of the terms of the extension (folio 97), with a copy in English and Arabic of the agreement (folios 105-07); BAPCO plans for the development of an oil storage and export infrastructure at Bahrain, including: oil storage facilities, questions over the need for a refinery at Bahrain, a deep water anchorage with submarine line at Sitrah Island (including arrangements for aerial and marine surveys, and a blueprint map showing the submarine line and anchorage, folio 217), and the installation of wireless radio facilities; A proposal by BAPCO, dated 3 December 1933, to export 5,000 barrels of oil daily from 1 July 1934 (folios 165, 185); The employment of a local labour force (referred to as 'coolies', folios 193-94); A report dated 10 December 1933 of oil struck at well number 4 ''in considerable quantity'' (folio 228)

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 288-95) mirror the chronological arrangement.

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