Page 102 - Records of Bahrain (7) (ii)_Neat

492 Records of Bahrain

Minula.

wna nccouuary to havo certain
principle!) for doi-llinl ting the non bed.
Ho dcclnrod that thC3c principles ohould
not be hard and feat line*baaed
) purely on mathematical formulae, but
that they ohould alno take into
coneldoration other factora ouch U3
uongo, traditional righto and
cuatomo. Tho fact that Dahrain had
always boon in control of the area
uutomutlcally implied right of
pooooooion and owncrohip e3pccially
olncc there had been no dispute
previouely with the Saudi Government
and no objection raiaed by the latter
until, aa a roault of BAPGO'3
initiative,the proopecto of findinc oil
bocame promising. Moreover it woo
only on account of one nurrow Doit of
land-near Rne Tnnura which jutted out
z into the 6ea from the Saudi mainland
6 that evon with our present dividing
< line . principle tho Faaht Du Soafa
2 Shoul might foil on the Saudi aide of
tho median line wherena .the main Saudi
coastline woo- far romoved from that
X area.
H
(d) Finally Mr. Uenschoten aaid the
pollticol and economic factora should be
considered. Oil production on the
z Bahrain inainlund waa gradually being
U worked out and it wna clear now that no
t new reserves of oil could be found. In
E the next twenty or thirty ycar3.
£ ‘therefore, oil production in buhraln
v/ould probably come to nn end and the
U
Q wealth and power of Bahrain would
consequently decrease ut a time when in
O neighbouring states such as Q^ntar
H end Kuwait oil production waa
expanding rapidly and their wealth and
-O power was increasing. It waa
Z essential, thorfore, that Bahrain 3hould
X have other areas for oil development
o and the most promising area at
z present waa l-’auht Du Saofa. Oil had
not actually been found as yet but
there were strong indications that it
existed. The Ruler of Bahrain was at
present in friendly relation!* with Jbn
oaud but if the lallershould deprive him
of a promising oil area,especially at
a time when the reserves on. the
Bahrain mainland were beginning to run
out, whereas on the Saudi mainland
there wna more oil than could nt
present be handled, these friendly
. rCK4*l0nR wou^ probably become
embittered and tho whole harmony of
that part of the Terulnn Gulf might be
upcct.
.
;
X
L oft*
vaat*rpi«lu rncl’ l°E°lhor with tho
V08t reaorvoa of
°u on the Saudi
Mainland