Coll 30/186 'Oil: Koweit Territorial Waters. Jurisdiction over the sub-soil beneath the sea. Off-Shore Oil in the Persian Gulf.' [‎166r] (332/737)

8 # On the other hand, the application of the principle
of President Truman’s Proclamation to the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
is difficult. The Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. is a shallow sea which may he
reg rded as being entirely a c ntinental ?helf. There is no
deep water below the 100 fathom line to form a boundary - the
lowest depth in the whole Gulf is about 80 fathoms - nor
indeed is there any marked submarine configuration in the form
of a sudden drop in the level of the sea bed. The United
States Proclamation itself recognised that circumstances
such as these might exist, but it merely says that in these
cases the boundary should be made by agreement between the
>t ites concerned in accordance with equitable principles.
One possible solution based on equitable principles in this
case would indicate the assertion of jurisdiction over the sea
bed in such a way that the areas claimed by the different
States bordering on the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. would meet in the middle
of the Gulf at points equidistant between the eastern gnd
western shores. The countries bordering on the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
are (1) Persia, (2) Iraq, ( 3 ) Saudi Arabia, ( 4 ) certain
British Protected states, namely the Arab sheikdoms of Kuwait,
^atar, end Bahrein, and the seven minor Trucial Sheikdoms,
viz: Ajman, Kalba, Debai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, Ras Al Khaimah,
U’am Al awain, ( 5)the It ate of Muscat and fman, which is
t : imic lly full pe->enden , th ugh in grertt measure under
British influence. Another solution, which might only be
temporary, would adopt the 10 fathom line (or possibly the 20
fathom line) as the seaward limit of the area claimed by each
State, since it is believed that commercial exploitation of oil
below the sea-bed is not yet possible outside the 10 fathom
line.
A precedent for the division of the bed of the sea exists
in the Treaty of 1942 between the United Kingdom and
Venezuela relating to the submarine area < of the Gulf of Paria.
The Gulf of J aria is a fairly large piece of water lying
between Trinidad and Venezuela which is very much enclosed,
seeing that it connects with the open sea by an entrance 10
miles wide on the south and 15 miles wide on the north. The
Gulf of Paria only gives access to the coasts of Venezuela and
Trinidad and might possibly by^ considered, owing to the
configuration and the narrowness of the openings, to form
national waters as opposed to the open sea in any case. Under
this Treaty, a line was drawn through the Gulf and it stated
that the United Kingdom will not claim sovereignty or control
over any part of the submarine areas of the Gulf which lie
west of the line and will recognise any rights of sovereignty
or control which have been or may hereafter be lawfully
acquired by Venezuela, with a corresponding undertaking on the
part of Venezuela about the area east of the line. The form
of the Agreement is such as to leave open the question whether
eith r state actually acquires sovereignty over the sea bed
prior to some physical occupation or not, but this may be only
a formal difference seeing that it was perhaps unlikely that
any other state would try and occupy and annex the sea bed in
this Gulf, and in fact if any other state were to do so every
effort would be made by the United Kingdom or Venezuela, as
the case mir£it be, to object to and obstruct it.
In short, this Agreement seems to be a case where
a piece of continental shelf had already, in anticipation
of President Truman’s proclamation, been divided up between
the interested states#