Page 262 - The Arabian Gulf States_Neat

200 THE LEGAL STATUS OF THE ARABIAN GULF STATES
After the Second World War, the controversy arose again in 1949,
when the British Political Officer for the Trucial States objected to
oil exploration activities made by a party of Aramco's geologists
within an area which was regarded by the British Government as part
of the Shaikhdom of Abu Dhabi. In a letter of protest of 22 April
1949 delivered by the British Officer to Mr Holm, the principal
geologist with the party, it was said

His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom have always recognised
the Shaikhdom of Abu Dhabi as extending up to Khor al Odaid and it is,
therefore, natural that the Ruler should regard Your Company’s presence
at points North of Sufk as an incursion, particularly as the Company have
Saudi soldiers with them.1
This letter led to an exchange of notes of protests between the Saudi
and the British Governments. As a result, negotiations on the bound­
aries were again resumed.2
On 14 October 1949 the Saudi Government presented a new defini­
tion of the boundaries which, it stated, was based on an ‘exhaustive
study of the camping places of the tribes and an investigation of the
actual situation’. This new definition proposed two lines: (1) a bound­
ary line between Saudi Arabia and Qatar which
begins at a point on the coast of Dauhat Salwah at Latitude 24°56' (Point A).
From Point A the line runs due east to the point of intersection of Latitude
24°56/ and Longitude 51° (Point B). From Point B the’line runs straight
to the seacoast at Latitude 24°48/ (Point C), leaving 'Amirah to Saudi
Arabia. Here ends the boundary line.

(2) A boundary line between Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi which
begins at a point on the coast of the Gulf between Bandar al-Marfa and
Bandar al-Mughaira, lying 2 kilometers cast of Bandar al-Marfa (Point A).
The line runs due southeast from this point until it meets Latitude 23°56/
(Point B). From this point the line runs straight until it meets Longitude
54° (Point C). From point C the line runs straight until it meets the point
of intersection of Latitude 24°25' and Longitude 55°36' (Point D).

Tn addition, the above definition alluded to the Buraimi Oasis as
follows:
As to the territory south and east of the last-named point. . ., it is under
the authority of Shaikhdoms which have no treaty relationships with the
British Government. For this reason, the boundary between the Kingdom

i British Memorial, I, pp. 92-3, Mr P. D. Stobart to J. Holm of Aramco,
22^Saudi Memorial, II, Annex 25, Aramco to Mr Stobart, 25 April 1949; ibid., I,
pp. 421-2; British Memorial, I, pp. 93-4.