Page 175 - The Origins of the United Arab Emirates_Neat

9 Boundary Disputes:
Chaos in Order

Shortly after Britain’s announcement in 1968 that its withdrawal
from the Gulf was imminent, the rulers of Dubai and Abu Dhabi
declared their forthcoming federation and at the same time announced
the settlement of a longstanding dispute between their two shaykh-
doms over offshore rights (with, as is only too well known today,
implications for the ownership of any oil or other mineral wealth
beneath the seabed). A ruler of Abu Dhabi, Shakhbut bin Sultan,
had been the first of the Trucial shaykhs to grasp the significance
of territorial limits. Before granting an option to the D’Arcy Explo­
ration Company in 1936, he declared his anxiety to have his boundary
with Dubai firmly defined. He wrote to Shaykh Sa‘id asking him
what territories had been included in his option to D’Arcy, and
urged that the frontier between them be settled before geologists
set out on their work.1 Sa‘id agreed, and in November 1937 the
two men met to discuss the matter. The main arbitrators were
Ahmad bin Hilal and Ahmad bin Khalaf bin ‘Utaybah, a leading
merchant of Abu Dhabi who had a strong influence on Shakhbut.
After negotiations, the rulers reached a verbal agreement that the
area to the west of a line running south from Bandar Hisyan
was Abu Dhabi territory, and the land to the east of that Dubai’s.2
Although this settlement did not prove lasting, it is to Shakhbut’s
credit that he was able to foresee the entanglements that oil companies
would cause through the prospects of wealth they held out. His
fellow rulers lacked his insight, and the result today is that the
map of the United Arab Emirates is a confusing patchwork of
subdivisions which make up the seven shaykhdoms.

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