Page 418 - The Arabian Gulf States_Neat

352 I HI- l.l-GAI. STATUS ()!•' THE ARABIAN GUI.E STATES
the area where these belts overlap, a boundary line separating the territorial
seas of the two islands shall be drawn so as to be equidistant throughout its
length from the lowest low water lines on each island.
Article 2 confirms that “both parties mutually recognize that each
possesses over the seabed and subsoil of the submarine areas on its side of
the line sovereign rights for the purpose of exploring and exploiting the
natural resources therein”.
The boundary line which separates the submarine areas
pertaining to Saudi Arabia from those pertaining to Iran is defined
by Article 3 as follows:

“(a) Except in the vicinity of al-Arabiyah and Farsi, the said line is
determined by straight lines" drawn between 14 geographical co-ordinates
(points), “the latitudes and longitudes" of which are specified herein
below.
(b) In the vicinity of al-Arabiyah and Farsi, a line laid down as follows:
“At the point where the line described in paragraph (a) intersects the limit of
the belt of Farsi, the boundary shall follow the limit of that belt on the side
facing Saudi Arabia until it meets the boundary line set forth in Article 1
which divides the territorial seas of Farsi and al-Arabiyah: thence it shall
follow that line easterly until it meets the limit of the belt of territorial sea
around al-Arabiyah; thence it shall follow the limit of that belt on the side
facing Iran until it intersects again the line described in paragraph (a)".
Article 4 provides that no oil drilling operations shall take place by
either party "within an area 500 metres wide on either side of the
line referred to in Article 3 and for the whole length of this line. This
line shall be measured from the boundary line referred to above".
Article 5 provides that the Agreement shall come into effect from
the date of exchange of instruments of ratification which shall be
carried out at Jiddah as soon as possible.1

Conclusion
(a) The Iran-Saudi Arabia Continental Shelf Agreement of 1968,
has been described as providing "a modification of the equidistance
principle". The boundary line delimited by the Agreement "is not
precisely a median line in its entirety, but there is "an effort to
approach such a line whenever possible", it is said.2 Moreover, the
Agreement is significant for the methods it utilised in delimiting the
shelf in the presence of offshore islands located many miles from
the mainland.
(b) The islands of al-Arabiyah and Farsi were assigned a
continental shelf boundary around them as a result of "giving effect
to the 12-mile territorial seas of the respective islands, this in
1. See Appendix No. 17.
2. Department of State. The Geographer, op. cit., p. 7.