File 38: Petroleum Concessions Limited

The files and volumes contain correspondence and memoranda relating to the work of Petroleum Concessions Limited and their subsidiaries, Petroleum Development (Trucial Coast) Limited, Petroleum Development (Qatar) Limited, and Petroleum Development (Oman and Dhofar) Limited, in the Persian Gulf and parts of the Arabian Peninsula. The correspondence is between British Government offices in the Gulf, London, and India, representatives of the companies, and various rulers and tribal leaders of the region. Much of the correspondence contained within the files relates to geological surveying and drilling work in Qatar, the Trucial Coast (now the United Arab Emirates), and Oman. Two files (IOR/R/15/2/868 and 869) relate to air transportation of people and equipment by the company. The last file (IOR/R/15/2/872) concerns the specific case of an employee dismissed by the company.

The Petroleum Concessions Limited files are arranged by file number, by which, for example, the reference 38/16 is composed of the subject reference 38 (Petroleum Concessions Limited) and the file number 16 (Effects of Bahrain-Qatar dispute on PCL). File numbers 1 and 3 are split into parts, each numbered with a Roman numeral (I, II, etc.). File number 11 has two parts, the second being an 'annexe'. The file number references of the surviving files (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 11, 15, 16, and 19) show that there are gaps where files may have been lost or destroyed.

Unrestricted

Matters of a political nature that arose within the context of the oil concession agreements and oil exploration work had to be referred to the British Government by the oil companies. Permissions for access, and the agreements themselves, thus became the business of the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf and subordinate local Political Agents.