Coll 6/79 'Oil: Oil concessions in South East Arabia (Rub'al Khali).' [‎34r] (67/80)

2.
a great deal of territory to the mB% and aonth-aaafc of the
Blne* s and "Vlolet^ine 4 «ae wandered over by tribes -
particularly the Mwra tribe <• which did in fact owe allegiance
to Ibn "aud and to no-one else* Although therefore one ooxxld
xiot apeak of frontiers or boundaries in the ordinary aenee in
this kind of area, there wm a sort of de facto dlvieion between
the territories wandered over by tribee at present owing
allegi&?Kse to Xbn : and and the territories wandered over by
tribe© owing allegiance either to Arab rulers under our protection
or to the mlare of the Sultanate of kuecst and Cjaan or to the
chiefs of the Aden Protectorate (which now included the mer&mvt }. 1
This line might be roughly regarded as running eouth-eastwarde
froa the head of the Dohat-ee-^ alwa to sojaewhere about the middle
of the base of the atar peninsula, but well te the west of the
Sabkhat el Aarah {which belonged to Abu I'h&bi} and th#5nce due
south and then again south-east m& east so &e to leave in Abu
Dhabi the line of wells used by Abu Dhabi tribe® on approximately |
Parallel 83 north, which I indicated to mjor hengrlgg on sjy ^ap^
The tribes at present owing facto allegiance to Ibn ?aud did
not wander much to the east of Meridian 54, and the tribes
Inhabiting the steppe com try in the hinterland of Muscat were
certainly not audi• m% all Utem botmdaries were still
extrefciSly fagias, and Xbn 8aud had been Inclined to put his elaias
raHuHr high, particularly in the neigh >ourhood of U%e base of
t)Mi a tar peninsula *
5. If, in these circumstances, Petroleum Donees®lens Lifted
were to apply to Xbn laud now for m oil concession over this
area, the effect would almost certainly be to give him an
exaggerated impression of the potential value of the area In
question and make him increase hie claims and prove more difficult
to/