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Coll 6/67(6) 'Boundaries of South-Eastern Arabia and Qatar: Trucial Coast Oil Concessions' [193v] (397/402)
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. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
8
ass eftfjSyrsasaas »*"««
(S p^a|raph 20 of the memorandum referred to at the begmnmg of tin,
memorandum) :
The intersection of 52° E. and 23° N. ...
The intersection of 54° 40' E. and 22° 40 N.
The intersection of 55° 40' E. and 22° N. ...
The intersection of 55° E. and 20° N. ...
C
D
E
G
In August of that year, the Foreign Office suggested to 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.
that a
communication might be addressed to the bultan, mentioning that His Majesty s
Government had taken note of the fact that, while he could not state precisely
the limits of his claims, he at any rate lodged no claim to territory beyond the
points D, E, G, and H as defined by the above co-ordinates. It should be noted
that, except for Dhofar, the hold of the Sultan over any territory west of the
Ha jar mountains is exceedingly precarious.
36. Along the frontier of the Aden Protectorate, the claims of Ibn Saud
are mainly based upon the “ Dira ” of the Murra tribe, which ranges over large
parts of Ruba-al-Khali. The Aden Government maintain that tribes dependent
on the Qu’aiti Sultan of Shi hr and Mukalla (including tribes belonging to the
Kathiri Sultan of Seiyun) and the Mohri Sultan of Kishn and Socotra range
as far north, when in search of grazingjgrounds, as a line joining the intersection
of meridian 55° E. with parallel 20° N. and the intersection of the Violet line
with parallel 18° N., although in the last resort a line running some twenty to
thirty miles further south might be conceded. The tribes mainly concerned are
the Seiar, Awamir, Manahil and Mahra.
(E)— Conclusion.
37. The foregoing paragraphs show that the country adjoining the Khor-
el-Odeid as well as the Jebel Nakhsh are areas inhabited by tribes who may owe
allegiance and pay tribute to Ibn Saud. and are. at any rate, probably 7 bevond the
effective control of the Sheikh of Abu Dhabi or the Sheikh of Qatar; that in
These circumstances Ibn Saud is legally entitled, in spite of the Anglo-Turkish
Convention of 1914. to claim them as being under his sovereignty; but that His
Majesty’s Government are precluded from admitting this claim by reason of the
fact that they have in the past formally acknowledged these areas to be within
the territory of the Sheikh of Abu Dhabi and the Sheikh of Qatar respectively
notwithstanding the absence of any clear ground on which the claims io
sovereignty of these Sheikhs could he sustained.
38. The steps which have been taken since 1934 to find a solution of this
problem are the sunject of a separate memorandum.
Eastern Department,
June 30, 1940.
Appendix.
Minute by Mr. W. E. Beckett.
which adopted article l^o^the Hmtv mTms 7 • the tre f ^ of 1914 - article 3.
limits of Turkish sovereignty in this part of the' A acC fP ted the blue lme as the
it is clear that to the extent that Tbn P Snf- .v Arablan P^msula. From this
Empire in this part of the world and nris/ha le successor of the old Ottoman
the blue line represents the limits of the territories wV rf™ 0n • SUch succession >
successor. I see that he was disposed tr til- fl hlch he ac( l ulred as Turkey’s
Turkey was not the sovereOrfin this Mrf° rCh ^ even d 1913 14.
„n m this part of the world, that he was already then
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 View the complete information for this record
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Coll 6/67(6) 'Boundaries of South-Eastern Arabia and Qatar: Trucial Coast Oil Concessions' [193v] (397/402), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/2139, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100049276752.0x0000c6> [accessed 4 July 2026]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/12/2139
- Title
- Coll 6/67(6) 'Boundaries of South-Eastern Arabia and Qatar: Trucial Coast Oil Concessions'
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, 1r:8v, 10r:22v, 24r:42v, 44r:51v, 54r:73v, 75r:106v, 108r:147v, 150r:160v, 162r:164v, 166r:176v, 178r:190r, 191r:195v, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence