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Coll 6/67(6) 'Boundaries of South-Eastern Arabia and Qatar: Trucial Coast Oil Concessions' [‎187v] (381/402)

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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18
gave Fuad Bey no hmt Ibat he tho g purel P persoua i and that he proposed
He said that any reply he »a'e w - ^ F • orarv success0 r at the Ministry
sending his observations n f ot R ^J rose ]f while he was on leave m Syria,
for Foreign Affairs, bul to luax Y -g i| d sa id that he was of opinion
In his report to the Foreign 0 ®^ Sir R. Bnhaict ,aia t. possibility
that a compromise on these hne^waspo^bl^andthat^ ^ ^
of removing the sole major
Palestine reply to the protest of the 20th January about
b4. in Apm ivoo c . S • an d local oil representatives was
communi cations rath an * Govemmenh stating tha't in 1934, when
lh“forMan Arabian Standard Oil Company were beginning their operations
to ni r United States Government, had asked His Majesty s Government for
information about boundaries m those regions, and that His _ a J est } ®
Government had not only furnished the information explained carefully and
confidentially that the legal frontier m that area was the Blue hne. . k ai
Arabian Government were duly informed at the time of this communication
to the United States Government, and since that time His Majesty s Govei nment
had not informed either the Saudi Arabian Government or the united states
Government that they no longer consider the Blue line as the legal frontier or
that they considered that the company was free to prospect to the east ox that
line. • His Majesty’s Government felt that they would have been justified in
making a protest to the Saudi Arabian Government when they learned that the
company, in spite of the information conveyed to that Go\einment, weie
operating near Qasr-al-Salwa; but on the contrary, purely out of deference to
Ibn Sand and from their desire to facilitate matters for him and for the company,
they had merely informed the company’s representatives quite informally that
they would raise no objection to the company’s operating, within certain limits,
to the east of the extreme limit yet proposed by His Majesty’s Government to
the Saudi Government, and this notwithstanding the previous communication
made to the United States Government and to the Saudi Arabian Government.
His Majesty’s Government had acted in accordance with this practice in cases
where important oil companies, whether of the same or of different nationalities,
were operating in adjoining areas, and they regretted that the Saudi Arabian
Government should take exception to a normal procedure designed to ensure the
maintenance of good relations between the great oil companies and the countries
in which they were registered.
65. In November 1938, when His Majesty’s Minister was at Riyadh. Fuad
Bey interrogated him about the frontier question, and, emphasising the
importance that attached to the question in Ibn Sand’s eyes, asked whether
Sir R. Bullard was able to make some reply to the proposals which he had put
forward in the spring. But as His Majesty’s Government had not been able to
reach any agreement about the proposed cession of the Khor-el-Odeid owing to
the existing rights of the Sheikh of Abu Dhabi, which it was suggested could
not be disregarded even ii the sheikh were offered compensation in other
directions, Sir R. Bullard was not, in the circumstances, able to give an
encouraging reply to this question.
66. Since Fuad Bey’s conversation with Sir R. Bullard in November 1938
the Saudi Arabian Government have not raised the question again and it may
apparently be considered to be in abeyance. No mention of it was made in Ibii
Sand s letter to the Prime Minister which the Emir Feisal brought with him
when he came to London for the Palestine Conferences early in 1939 nor d’d the
Lmir bimseh mention the differences of opinion between His Majesty’s Govern
rnent ana the Saudi Arabian Government on this question in the course of
interviews with the Secretary of State and Sir L. Oliphant. Activity during
this year was confined to an inconclusive exchange of views between the Fore en
Office and 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. in continuation of the attempt to discover some aS
basis for the final settlement of the question of the south .eastern from
During the first six months of 1940 there were no developments at aH
iers.
Eastern Department, June 30. 1940.

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' [‎187v] (381/402), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/2139, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100049276752.0x0000b6> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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