Page 326 - UAE Truncal States

The External /n/Iuences

delayed any further exploration and deferred the need to solve the
thorny question of territorial sovereignly. Those British officials who
were closely concerned with PD (TC)’s tentative moves to assert their
concessionary rights did, however, realise well before the War the
problems which lay ahead if the search for oil was to be pursued
under such difficulties.
After the War, the oil company resumed exploration, geological
parties examined the rock outcrops, and gravity survey parties
traversed the desert. In 1946/47, most of the areas in Dubai, Ra’s al
Khaimah, and Abu Dhabi which had been visited before the War
were examined again; and this time it was also possible to send a
party as far inland as Jabal al Fayah, a solitary mountain west of the
Hajar range. The parly was again harassed by tribes of the interior
because the coastal shaikh’s letters and guides were not recognised.
Great difficulties were also encountered in the Buraimi area in 1948.
The Ruler of Abu Dhabi, Shaikh Shakhbut, assisted the company in
organising surveys in the territory under his jurisdiction, but the
shaikhs of the Al Bu Shamis and others refused to recognise his
influence, and they ignored the Sultan’s claim that they were under
his sovereignty and that their tribal dar should be treated as part of
the concession area which he had granted in his agreement with
Petroleum Development (Oman) in 1937.65
A dispute over the boundary between Abu Dhabi and Dubai near
the coast overshadowed the otherwise usually very cordial relation­
ship between the two shaikhdoms dominated by the Bani Yas.
Shaikh Sa'Id bin Maktum of Dubai had been the first of the Trucial
Rulers to sign an agreement with PD (TC) in 1935 for a concession to
explore for oil in the territory “under his sovereignty”. Shaikh
Shakhbut of Abu Dhabi, wanting to prevent a misunderstanding
with regard to the extent of his territory, delineated his claims in a
written message to Shaikh Sa'Td in the summer of 1936. In Shaikh
Shakhbut’s view, Abu Dhabi extended as far north-east as Jabal ’Ali,
while Shaikh Sa'Td held the opinion that his State included Khaur
Ghanadhah, some 40 kilometres south-west of Jabal 'Ali. Although
both Rulers were anxious to resolve this difference amicably by
discussion and exchange of letters, no agreement was reached before
the War. The problem lingered on and grew again in importance
when exploration parties of PD (TC) returned to the area after the
War.
Partly because such territorial disputes over concessionary
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