Page 332 - UAE Truncal States_Neat

The External fn/luenccs

Trucial Const PD (TC) decided to start drilling at one of the more
promising locations which was not in an area under dispute, neither
claimed by Saudi Arabia nor the shaikhs of the hinterland tribes. The
site of this first well, which was spudded in February 1950, was at
Ra’s al Sadr in Abu Dhabi territory, about half-way between Abu
Dhabi town and Dubai. Preparation of the site entailed the con­
struction of a jetty, a road and a landing strip, importation of the
drilling equipment, building materials and a power generation plant.
The well was abandoned as a dry hole al the then record depth for the
Gulf of 13,000 feet. The second well was drilled at Jabal 'Ali in Dubai
territory, and the entire back-up organisation had to be transferred
from Abu Dhabi to Dubai. More wells were drilled in various
locations in Abu Dhabi and one in Sharjah; camps were set up, and
the total investment over this decade of unsuccessful exploration
amounted to many million pounds Sterling, until the announcement
was made on 28 October 1960 that oil had been found in commercial
quantities at Murban in Abu Dhabi.
The financial commitment of the companies in this area went hand
in hand with an ever more intensive personal involvement. In
previous decades it was the Residency Agent who alone dealt with
the Rulers on the Gulf Coast, and, as required, with their relatives
and the leading merchants, making rather infrequent visits to the
remoter shaikhdoms. Now the Arabic-speaking representatives of
the oil companies were seen in some of the Rulers’ majlis almost
every day, regulating a multitude of details concerning the day-to-
day requirements of the company. At the same time hundreds of local
inhabitants were recruited, and during training and employment
they came into contact with the Europeans and Americans working
with them.80 It was as desirable for the company to develop some
continuity in their workforce and to train the labourers as it was for
the local population to move forward through education, better
health, and new contacts with the outside world. Comparisons with
nearby Qatar, which had had such contacts since the 1940s and was
already benefiting from the income from its oil exports during the
1950s, further whetted the appetite of the people of the Trucial Coast
for a general improvement in their living conditions.
The political representation
During the 1930s the mutual trust between the British authorities in
the Gulf and the local Rulers and their people had declined to a very
low level. The Government of India, being in great need of landing

307