'File 4/34 Kuwait Territorial Waters' [‎44r] (87/112)

QQpy ilixti • 2396/4 /.
IE.9621/716/91;
WITH THE COUPLUaENTb OF THE
UliDER HECHITAHf UF STATE FOR
com i£ a wealth relatiuhg.
Contine ntal Shelf in the Pergle 7 ! 'julf •
A meeting was heid in the Foreign office on the 23rd
October under the chairmanship of Uarran. ihe following
were present:~
^r. Dodds
Mr* Harrison
Mr. mo ns eil-Lavia )
Dr. huttall ;
Admiralty
0ommonweaith relations uffice*
Ministry of • l, uel arid rower.
Mr. Evans ) )
Mr. Pyman )
Mr. Arthur )
Foreign office.
After some discussion it was agreed that it was necessary
to decide now the principles on which His Majesty's Government
consider that the sea-bed of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. should be divided,
if it became necessary to resort to a division. The Gtate
Department should then be consulted. The newt o fca^e would
be to inform the rulers under our control and tneir neighbours
Iraq and fcaudi Arabia, of our views. x hen f whenever it
became necessary or desirable to make an actual division of
the sea-bed between different states and rulers, we should
endeavour to spply ad hoc the principles which we had formulated,
in the case of the Arab shaitf-hdoms under our control we should
warn the rulers that if they received applications for oil
concessions in respect of the sea-bed outside their territorial!
waters, it would be necessary for them, if they wished to grant
concessions, to take steps by a formal d eclarat ion to acquire
jurisdiction and control over the portions of the sea-bed
which would fall to them under our proposals. it was agreed
that the territorial waters of the states on the s.'7. shore of
the Gulf should be considered as extending to a limit of three
nautical miles from high-water mark.
it was agreed that the principles to be applied should
bo ‘Lore of 1 resident Truman’s Proclamation regarding the
Continental oh elf. As regards the north east/south west
division of tne sea-bed a median line should be drawn between
the Horth-Eastern and south-Western shores of the Gulf. Home
difficulty would be experienced in drawing the median line
at the extreme northern end of the Gulf owing to Persian claims
m respect of the mouth of the ^hatt-el-Arab. Consideration
was given to the possibility that it might oe advisable at the
outset to limit claims on the Arab side ax ihx to a limit
within the median line, for example a ten or twenty fathom
line. it was however agreed that this suggestion was open
to many objections and it was decided not to proceed with it.
As regards the transversal division of the sea-bed on the
Gouth-western side of the median line the aim might he to
extend the iPand frontiers from the coast to meet the median
line. This would certainly involve practical difficulties
since there are disputes about some of these frontiers and
even where the frontier is not disputed there is doubt as to
the angle at which the frontier intersects the coast line,
it was noted that the interest of the oil companies was likely
to be concentrated in the first place on the sea-bed between
the mouth of the ?>hu11-el-Arab and Bahrain and that this would
involve not only the portions of the sea-bed affected by one
disputed land frontier, i.e. that between Iraq and Kuwait,
but also that attributable to the Kuwait .Neutral none territory.
it was agreed that if a general application of the above
principles of equitable d ivision co uld be agreed on, it would
be useful in settling disputes between the various rulers