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Coll 6/67(6) 'Boundaries of South-Eastern Arabia and Qatar: Trucial Coast Oil Concessions' [‎52r] (110/402)

The record is made up of 1 file (195 folios). It was created in 30 Jun 1940-30 Mar 1948. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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Telephone : CLERKENWELL 3301
Teleorams :
r AND ; PETRIRAQ, AVE., LONDON
Foreign : PETRIRAQ, LONDON
Codes \
Bentley'* Second Phrase
Bentley s Complete Phrase with Oil Supplement
Lombard
PETROLEUM CONCESSIONS LIMITED
DIRECTORS :
Sir William Eraser C.B.E
N. A. Gass
C. S. Gulbenkian (formerly Armenian)
). B. A. Kessler (Dutch)
G. LegKJanes
V. de IlK: (French)
R. de l^maigu (French)
R. W. Sellers, M.C.
O. A SjHkrd (U.S.A.)
J. SklirJV B.E.
Our Ref:
Your Ref,
LING HOUSE,
DOMINION STREET,
LONDON, E.C.2.
.29Jb ^pril, 1947
The ^nder-Secretary of State,
Foreign Office,
■Whitehall, S.W.l.
I have the honour to refer to a conversation which took
place at the Foreign Office on the afternoon of 28th April, between
Ur. Neville Butler and Mr. Garron on the one side and the undersigned
representative of this Company on the other.
You are aware that this Company and/or its subsidiaries
hold oil Concessions from the Shaikh of Qatar, the various Rulers on the
Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. , and the Sultan of Unseat and Oman, which Concessions
were acquired at various dates from 1934 to 1946, mainly between 1936
and 1939. It is the common feature of all these Concessions that the
territories covered adjoin, on their inland side, the dominions of
H.U. King Ibn Sa’ud: and it is understood that the latter’s frontiers,
which thus automatically become the boundaries of the Company’s
Concession, have never been delimited.
In the case of Qatar, the Company's Concession indicates,
by a line on an attached map across the Qatar Peninsula from hast to West
towards its base, the boundary of the area covered. It is, however,
believed that considerable territory south of that boundary belongs
properly to the Shaikh: and in the event of a delimitation between the
domaines of the Shaikh and of King Ibn Sa'ud, this Company would wish to
extend its Concessional area, by arrangement ith the Shaikh, so as to
cover whatever lend might be excluded from Sa’udi Arabia and included in
Qatar by the boundary determined.
On the Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. there hasbeen some hinterland
demarkation and it would, therefore, be a matter of great interest to the
Company to know what approximate or provisional frontier may at the present
time be considered as valid vis a vis Sa’udi Arabia: what are the
probabilities of a definitive boundary-drawing in the near or fairly near
future: and whether in the event of such final boundary-drawing including

About this item

Content

This volume concerns British policy regarding the south-eastern boundaries of Saudi Arabia, specifically its border with Qatar.

The correspondence and memoranda near the beginning of the volume discuss from a British perspective the origins and recent history of the boundary dispute, which is described as having been in abeyance since 1938; much of the later correspondence is concerned with whether the British should make renewed attempts to reach an agreement with Ibn Saud [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd] .

References are made to various existing and proposed boundary lines, the most recent of the latter is the 'Riyadh line' (the name given to the boundary proposed by the British to the Saudi Government in November 1935, referred to elsewhere as the 'final offer').

Notable correspondents include the following: the 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. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. (Charles Geoffrey Prior, succeeded by William Rupert Hay); the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. , Bahrain (Reginald George Alban, Edward Birkbeck Wakefield, and Cornelius James Pelly); His Majesty's Minister at Jedda (Stanley R Jordan, succeeded by Laurence Barton Grafftey-Smith); officials of the Foreign Office, the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. , the Government of India's External Affairs Department, and the Ministry of Fuel and Power (Petroleum Division); representatives of the United States' State Department, Petroleum Development (Qatar) Limited, Petroleum Concessions Limited, and the Iraq Petroleum Company respectively.

Related matters of discussion include:

  • Ibn Saud's claims regarding the south-eastern frontiers of Saudi Arabia, particularly those relating to Jebel Nakhsh [Khashm an Nakhsh, Qatar] and Khor-el-Odeid [Khawr al ‘Udayd, Qatar].
  • Reports in 1941 of a rumour that the Shaikh of Qatar [Shaikh ‘Abdullāh bin Jāsim Āl Thānī] and Ibn Saud have reached an agreement regarding the Saudi-Qatar boundary.
  • The likelihood of oil prospecting either near or within the disputed territory, and its implications for the territorial dispute.
  • British concerns in 1947 regarding the possibility of the Arabian American Oil Company (Aramco) initiating drilling operations in the seabed near to the disputed territory.
  • The precise location of proposed drillings by Petroleum Concessions Limited in the Qatar Peninsula.
  • A reported complaint in 1947 from the Shaikh of Abu Dhabi [Shaikh Shakhbut bin Sultan Al Nahyan] that Petroleum Development (Qatar) Limited has laid buoys in his territorial waters.
  • Whether the British should permit or impede a proposed survey in Qatar by Petroleum Concessions Limited, which is thought likely to provoke protests from Ibn Saud.

Also included are three maps depicting the eastern and south eastern parts of the Arabian Peninsula.

The volume includes a divider which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the volume by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence (folio 2).

Extent and format
1 file (195 folios)
Arrangement

The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the volume.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the first folio with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 195; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers.

Pagination: the volume also contains an original printed pagination sequence.

Written in
English in Latin script
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Coll 6/67(6) 'Boundaries of South-Eastern Arabia and Qatar: Trucial Coast Oil Concessions' [‎52r] (110/402), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/2139, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100049276751.0x00006f> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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