Page 366 - The Arabian Gulf States_Neat

302 THE LEGAL STATUS OF THE ARABIAN GULF STATES
The concession extends offshore to a distance of about 100 kilometres,
as far as the islands of Abu Nurayr and Abu Musa.1

Ras aJ-Khaimah: By an agreement signed on 3 March 1964 the Ruler
of the Shaikhdom awarded to Union Oil of California and Southern
Gas a concession covering his country's offshore areas.2

(b) Disputes over the delimitation of offshore boundaries
Although the dispute between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia over the
delimitation of their offshore boundaries has already been settled by
virtue of their 1958 agreement,3 there are still some causes for serious
disputes over the delimitation of offshore boundaries in this portion of
the Gulf. Moreover, the potential causes for disputes arising from
overlapping of newly granted oil concessions in this part should not
be underestimated. The fact that offshore boundaries in this portion
of the Gulf between Iran and the littoral Shaikhdoms, on the one
hand, and between the littoral Shaikhdoms themselves, on the other,
have not yet been delimited, would, undoubtedly, demonstrate the
intricacy of the problems at issue. Apart from the Persian claim to
Bahrain,4 which would affect any settlement based on the drawing of
the median line in the Gulf, there is the added problem of Bahrain’s
claim to certain rights over the village of Zubarah, on the northwestern
coast of Qatar peninsula. The long-standing dispute between Bahrain
and Qatar over Zubarah has been discussed in this work in connection
with the problems of territorial claims.5 But this Bahraini territorial
claim to Zubarah, or to jurisdictional rights over it, seems to over­
shadow any future settlement of the Bahrain-Qatar submarine
boundaries. The problem of the delimitation of submarine areas
between Bahrain and Qatar has become more pressing at present, as
a result of the acceleration in recent years of offshore oil operations.
It is understood that British Foreign Office experts have been for
some years working on a practical plan for dividing the Bahrain-
Qatar submarine areas on an equitable basis, while shelving for the
time being the question of Bahraini claims to Zubarah. Consequently,
the British Government presented a tentative plan to Bahrain for the
demarcation of her boundaries with Qatar. After having studied this
plan, the Bahrain Government was understood to have presented a
counter plan which seemed to have claimed much more areas of the
sea-bed than those embodied in the British plan. This Bahraini counter
plan was later communicated to Qatar for consideration by the Ruler.
The Ruler’s reaction to the plan is not known. At any rate, it is
understood that the question of the Bahrain-Qatar submarine boun-
1 MEES. No. 38, 26 July 1963; ibid., No. 6, 13 September 1963.
2 Platt's Oilgram, 14 March 1963; MEES, No. 20, 22 March 1963.
3 Sec below, p. 306, and sec Map 4 on p. 262. 4 See Chapter 12.
6 Sec Chapter 14, p. 247 and Map 1.