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Coll 30/87(2) Part II 'Qatar: Oil Concession - P.C.L.'s Operations.' [182r] (366/603)
The record is made up of 1 file (296 folios). It was created in 6 Jan 1945-13 Apr 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.
page 4.
its officers have acquiesced in these shoals being described
as Bahrain property in the negotiations with Petroleum Conces
sions Limited in 1938-39 vide Article I of the various draft
agreements and the maps attached to them. My view is there
fore that the two shoals should be assigned to Bahrain which
has done all it can to establish its sovereignty over the
places in the now outmoded style of empire-building without
any kind of protest from Qatar. If, however, expert legal
opinion is to the contrary, so much the better.
8 . I find myself, however, unable to agree with 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.
in his proposals regarding the delimiting line
for the ownership of these shoals vide paragraph 24 of his
letter and particularly with his argument that the three-
fathom curve should be chosen because it includes the points
where the Bahrain Petroleum Company wants to drill. This is
entirely begging the point. It seems absurd to regard a
shoal which is itself part of a shelf as having its own shelf,
and it is in any case hardly possible in the present instance
to select the three-fathom line as the limit of the shoals*
shelf as according to the charts they are linked up at this
depth with both the Qatar peninsula and the Bahrain Islands.
I consider therefore that if these shoals are to be regarded
as the property of Bahrain they should be delimited by their
low water levels or that at the most they should be regarded
as having a radius of territorial waters up to the three-mile
limit*. In either case points E & F where the Bahrain
Petroleum Company wish to drill will be excluded from Bahrain
limits.
9.
1 am also ....
*It would appear from § 190(a), Oppenheim Volume I, that Dlbal,
none of which is above high water level can have no territorial
waters. Such waters ought perhaps to be assigned to Jaradah
on the assumption that a part of it is above high water level.
^ 311 ^ s l an< ** Until however this assumption is
verified by a survey no drilling should be allowed below the
low water level.
About this item
- Content
The file concerns the operations of Petroleum Concessions Limited (PCL) (and its subsidiary Petroleum Development (Qatar) Limited) in Qatar. Of particular importance in the file is the issue of the division of the sea bed for drilling operations between PCL's concession, and that of the Bahrain Petroleum Company Limited (BAPCO) in Bahrain.
The file contains discussion of the issue by 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 Foreign Office, the Ministry of Fuel and Power, 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. , and 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.
The papers cover: the resumption of drilling operations in Qatar after their suspension during the Second World War; payment of royalties; the Hawar Islands; the granting of permission to use wireless sets; the response of British officials to a United States Government request to PCL for information on petroleum resources in Qatar and the Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. , October-November 1946; aerial surveys of the Bahrain-Qatar Unallotted Area; the application of US President Harry S Truman's continental shelf doctrine to the issue (e.g. folios 141, 110); maps of the area; Admiralty comments on the need for all parties to be aware that the sea bed only was concerned, and that the waters above, and free navigation, were in no way affected (folio 46); correspondence from the oil companies involved; and the reactions of local rulers to the negotiations.
The file also contains five maps.
The file includes a divider, which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.
- Extent and format
- 1 file (296 folios)
- Arrangement
The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the file.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 296; 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. A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out. Foliation anomaly: 268a.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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Coll 30/87(2) Part II 'Qatar: Oil Concession - P.C.L.'s Operations.' [182r] (366/603), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/3806B, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100056534850.0x0000a8> [accessed 23 April 2024]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/12/3806B
- Title
- Coll 30/87(2) Part II 'Qatar: Oil Concession - P.C.L.'s Operations.'
- Pages
- front, back, front-i, 2r:4v, 7r:12v, 15r:15v, 16v:17v, 18v:22v, 31r:51v, 52v:85v, 86v:104v, 105v:123v, 125r:130v, 131v:155v, 157r:167v, 168v:211v, 212v:218v, 230r:233v, 234v:239v, 242r:243v, 244v:254v, 258r:266v, 267v:268v, 268ar:268av, 269r:271v, 272v, 275r:282v, 283v:286v, 296r:296v
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence