Page 204 - Records of Bahrain (7) (ii)_Neat

594 Records of Bahrain

(15311/1/52) BRITISH RESIDENCY,
BAHRAIN.

CONFIDENTIAL 12th January, 1952.

I have not yet sent the letter to the Ruler of Bahrain about
the oca bed area between Bahrain and Qatar, the draft of which wao forwarded
under Furlonge's letter EA 1272/37 of the 15th December and referred to in
your letter Em 1272/39 of the 19th December because I have been considering
whether or not to tell the International Karine Oil Company to continue
their survey operationa aa soon aa the letter ia ioauod and what the effect
on the Ruler will be if they do ao. The company are at present occupying
a Bahrain Government flat and are negotiating with the Ruler for the lease
of a house which belongs to him personally. They are using the Muharraq
jetty for the loading and unloading of goods and personnel and propose
to make Bahrain their headquarters for all their operations in the Gulf.
The Ruler will thus be in a position to make himself extremely awkward
if they continue their operations without reaching oome understanding with
him. From the practical point of view therefore I am still anxious to
proceed more or less on the lines suggested in n\y letter 1539/38 of the 13th
December. I fear that if we reply to the Ruler at once in the manner proposed
and then tell the company to go ahead we shall be in for a very difficult
time. I am willing to face this but would prefer to find a way round if
possible.
2. I have discussed the matter further with Belgrave and he has
pointed out that it would be inappropriate for the company's letter to
contain any reference to the Ruler's claim to a portion of the Qatar sea bed
as this ia a matter whioh is not their concern and of which they, should not
have official cognisance. I propose therefore that in the reply, which I
have suggested in ii\y letter of the 13th December that the company should be
advised to send to him, the words from "it being understood" onwards should
be omitted. I understand that if they write in on these lines the Ruler
will instruct Belgrave to reply agreeing to the operations being continued
without prejudice to his claims to the areas.
3. I do not think there is any hope whatever of persuading the
Ruler formally to relinquish his claim and accept our decision of 1947 and
I do not altogether agree Y/ith Furlonge's statement that sooner or later he
will have to be compelled to accept a division of the sea bed between his
State and Qatar and that as the expedient I have proposed will only postpone
the matter it will eventually be brought up again on some future occasion.
International Marine have told me that they require only ten clear days to
complete their survey though these may be spread over a period of two or
three months owing to bad weather or for other reasons. If they find no oil,
as appears likely to be the case from the result of the Bahrain Petroleum
Company's survey, they vdll presumably have little further intereot in the
area. There is also of course the question of the territorial waters of Qatar
which the Ruler of Bahrain claims and which have been held to be covered
by Petroleum Development (Qatar)'s concession. So far ao I am av/are they
have no intention of drilling in these waters they and up to date no objection
has been raised to such operations as they have been conducting in them. I
am of opinion therefore that once International Marine's ourvey operations
have been completed there is a very good chance that nothing will occur which
will make it necessary for us to enforce the 191*7 deoinion.
4. I agree that it is undesirable that the Ruler's letter of the 22nd
September should remain unanswered indefinitely. I would suggest however
that if-it is agreed that International Marine should write to the Adviser
on the lines proposed we should await the results of this and if they are
satisfactory we should reply briefly to the Ruler to the effect that His
tjajcsty's Government regard the Political Agent's letter of the 14th May, 1951,
R.F. G. garell, Esq.,
Eastern Department, / as a,
Foreign Office, S.W. 1.

•I
■