'File 39/24 Seabed concession, Qatar' [‎28r] (55/104)

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Confidential*
No.C/R-461.
Dear Felly ?
Political Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. ,
Bahrain,
28th August, 1960.
U 1 *
.s
Will you please refer to my letter No.C/R-383
of 22r4 July about Superior Oil Company’s operations?
U
2 * I enclose a copy of a letter I have received ^
from Sprague containing certaim queries. I pr^ipes^,
if you agree, to reply saying that his undjersl^anding
of the position is correct. The only^oint that I am g
not sure of is whether there h^s—been any ciiange in tha- £' .
position about shoals havi^r^erritorial waters
Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. letter No.C/1227 dr 23rd December^194?^ to the
Ruler of Qatar (a copy of which was fo*>w|frded to the Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India.
with Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. printed letter No.C/38 , *6f r 7th January, 1948),
which is clearly the document seen by Sprague before he
drafted the enclosed letter, it is stated that twa shoals
cannot be considered as islands having territorial waters,
but I seem to remember that there has been subsequent
discussions on this question between the Admiralty and
the Foreign Office, and I am not certain if the position
has been modified in any way. I see from Sir Rupert Hay’s
letter No.126-S of 18th January, 1947, that whereas no
part of the Dibalsremains above high water level, there
is a possibility that Jaradah might be considered as an
island. ^ ^
-plZ/to. X
3. As regards the request in the last paragraph of
Sprague’s letter, I am unable to find that there hes been
any detailed survey of the shoals for the purpose of de
fining the area covered by the rights of sovereignty claimed. #
The most accurate map which we possess in the Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. seems
to be the one referred to in Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. letter No.187/10/49^
of 10th September, 1949, but I doubt if the areas of the
shoals are sufficiently accurately defined to satisfy the
Superior Oil Company’s requirements. However, I am not
sure if the area has ever been covered by H.M. Survey ships,
if so, their charts should be able to supply us with suf
ficient detail.
4. I was also asked verbally by Sprague at the time he £
gave me this letter if I could inform him on what basis
these two shoals and the Hawar island were allotted to^ \
Bahrain rather than to Qatar. I presume that I can inform
him on the terms employed in the final approv«iK^rafts
forwarded under Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. letter No.187/6/49^of 20th April,
1949, that as His Majesty’s Government have recognised the
sovereignty of Bahrain over these islands, these shoals
have been allotted to Bahrein although they fall on the
Qatar side of a median line, but this hardly takes us any
further forward than the phrasing in paragraph 4 of this
Agency’s letter No.0/122? of 23rd December, 1947. I would
therefore
His Excellency Mr. C.J. Felly, O.B.E.,
Ag. 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. , Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ,
Bahrain.
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