Page 150 - The Origins of the United Arab Emirates_Neat

1lb The Origins of the United Arab Emirates

to be signed brought a wave of reaction. The rulers of Sharjah
and Ras al-Khaimah, aware that oil was less likely to be struck
in their shaykhdoms than in Abu Dhabi or Dubai, tried to press
Shaykh Sa‘id to hold out for better terms, thus ensuring the same
for his fellow rulers. Shakhbut of Abu Dhabi, on the other hand,
was concerned about his boundaries with Dubai, and urged that
I they be defined before the final signature.38 Although Sa‘id resisted
the efforts of the rulers of Ras al-Khaimah and Sharjah, he did
agree to negotiate a settlement on the border issue with Abu Dhabi.
Finally, on 22 May 1937, he signed an agreement granting Petroleum
Concessions Ltd a concession, which was then transferred to Petro­
leum Development (Trucial Coast) Ltd for development.
The procedure for the oil agreements was as follows: first, a
commercial agreement between the company and the ruler was
signed; then, a political .agreement between the British Government
and the company was signed; and, finally, an exchange of letters
took place whereby the ruler endorsed the political agreement.
The last of these steps was to safeguard the terms of the political
agreement, which would prevail in any conflict with the commercial
agreement; and to provide a lever to ensure that the company
would abide by the provisions of that agreement. The political
agreement safeguarded the position of the British political authorities,
along with British strategic and other interests; it enabled the produc­
tion and resources of the company to be placed at the disposal
of the British Government in ease of emergency or war. Furthermore,
the company undertook to remain British by registration, with at
least one director a British subject.
Fowle had hoped that the completion of negotiations for the
Dubai concession would help speed negotiations elsewhere on the
Coast, but he was to be disappointed. Holmes reported that the
ruler of Sharjah wanted better financial terms than Shaykh Sa‘id,
and that Shaykh Sultan of Ras al-Khaimah was stubbornly refusing
to negotiate. Fowle saw two reasons for the lack of progress: continued
intrigues by Socal, and lack of initiative by Petroleum Concessions.
The rulers were procrastinating while waiting for the D’Arev options
to expire, which would then leave them free to negotiate with
the Americans. Furthermore, reports reaching Fowle about the activi­
ties of Hajji Williamson led the Resident to believe that Williamson
was working for Casoc.39 He had apparently written three times
to Shakhbut of Abu Dhabi and Sultan of Ras al-Khaimah: in
the first letter, he had offered each of them a motor-car; in the
second, he had invited both men to visit him in Basrah; and
finally he said that he had asked the AIOC to send him to the
Trucial Coast to negotiate for a concession, and that if the company
refused he would resign and negotiate on his own account.40 Even