'File 10/3 III Qatar Oil Concession' [‎104r] (224/470)

Has
(d) The area lying between the blue line and the boundaries reccanisod' for' Qatar
:"c\ ( ri1o o 7h suh hi to %
Dhabi, as of ^determinate *? ^
Btr^Qa ^Ihe Hl en ^ ^ {m ^ coastal stdp Jtte
Wan al yarah, the likelihood that oil companies will aetively interest
themselves in it is probably small, if they do, on the principle that Tfan
Sand has no interest east of the blue line, it might be necessary to consider
whether to attribn e it to Qatar or Abu Dhabi (the wording of the 1913
Convention, as quoted in paragraph 5 above, would assist us fn claiming it
for Qatar). It would in any event be desirable, in order to prevent fore",
interests from endeavouring to establish a foothold in it, to consider in what
way it could best be made clear that we regarded it as falling within o r
own sphere of influence or that ^aiie^our Trucial allies.
< e ) When once oil operations have stlS^^atar ^l^cjjvey a warning through ^
the Sheikh of Qatar, if wWcircumstances ti make thifnoocoin^C^
to the migratory Bedouin tribes who use the area referred to in ((/) that in
the event of their crossing, with hostile intent or save for normal peaceful
pursuits, such as grazing, such line as may be fixed as the boundary of
Qatar they will do so at their own peril. The local political authorities
would no doubt be able to ascertain and to advise what customary rights in
respect of grazing, &c. these migratory tribes at present enjoy within Qatar
proper. On the question whether any corresponding intimation should be
made to Ibn Saud in respect of tribes permanently belonging to Nejd but
using the mdeteimmate area it seems definitely preferable, in the interest of
avoiding discussion with him of the position of the indeterminate area and
of the blue line, to make no communication unless and until circumstances
India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. , / J. G. L aithwaite*
26th January 1931.
d
eii
11 Si;
APPENDIX.
Boundaries of Qatar.
I — Extracts from Lorimer's Gazetteer.
(i) Qatar.
{N^B.—Mr. Lorimer's article on Qatar is stated to be the result of special enquiries
made over a number of years locally.)
Lorimer, Vol. II, page 1506, defines the boundaries of Qatar as follows ;—
" On the east, north and west, Qatar is surrounded by the sea. The southern
boundary is somewhat indeterminate. It begins at the foot of Dohat-as-Salwa
on the western side of the promontory, and from that point runs south-eastwards
to the wells of Sakak. Thence, according to one account, it strikes east-north
east to the north end of the Naqiyan sandhills, or, according to another, east by
south to the southern end of the same hills on the north side of the entrance to
is
leii
$
ins
Khor-al-Odaid. As the territory of the Trucial Sheikh of Abu Dhabi has never
clearly been asserted to extend beyond Khor-al-Odaid, and as the Al-Tbani
Sheikhs of Qatar undoubtedly claim the Naqiyan tract, the latter of the two
alternative lines is to be preferred ; the British Government have recognised
Khor-al-Odaid as belonging to Abu Dhabi and the boundary consequently cannot
be placed nearer to Trucial Oman A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. , though the Al-Thani Sheikhs assert a right
to the whole coast as far as the Sabakhat Matti. It is said that three men
stationed at Dohat-as-Salwa, Sakak and Niqa-al-Maharah, respectively, can watch
the whole southern border of Qatar from sea to sea."