IOR/R/15/2/160

The volume concerns negotiations between the British and Saudi Arabian governments over the settlement of the eastern and south-eastern frontiers of Saudi Arabia, the importance of which was enhanced by the presence of oil in the areas concerned.

The principal correspondents are: HM Minister, Jedda [Jeddah] (Sir Andrew Ryan; Sir Reader William Bullard); the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (principally Lieutenant-Colonel Trenchard Craven William Fowle); the Political Agent, Bahrain (Lieutenant-Colonel Percy Gordon Loch; Captain Tom Hickinbotham); and officials of the India Office, the Government of India, and the Foreign Office.

The papers cover: reports of negotiations between HM Minister, Jeddah and the King of Saudi Arabia, Ibn Saud (also referred to as Bin Saud) [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd], through his representatives Fuad Bey Hamza [Fu’ād Bey Hamza] and Shaikh Yusuf Yasin [Yūsuf Yāsīn]; the boundary with Qatar; the boundary with Abu Dhabi; the status of Khor al Odeid [Khawr al ‘Udayd] and Jabal Naksh (including two photographs of Jabal Naksh, folios 135-136); the supposed existence of an agreement between Saudi Arabia and Qatar prior to 1916, which is described by the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf as an 'entire fabrication' (folio 41); aerial reconnaissance in the area, including a survey of places in Qatar by George William Rendel of the Foreign Office; correspondence concerning the exact position of Sufuk (also referred to as Safq) wells in the territory of Abu Dhabi, February-April 1937 (folios 90-98, 138-143, 160-161); paper by HM Minister, Jeddah (Bullard) concerning 'Mr Philby's [Harry St John Bridger Philby] expedition to the south and question of southern frontier of Saudi Arabia'; February 1937 (folios 150-159); paper by the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (Fowle) concerning 'Ibn Saud and the Arab States of the Persian Gulf', May 1937 (folios 199-206); and papers concerning the activities of the California Arabian Standard Oil Company (CASOC) at Qasr as Salwa, October-November 1937 (folios 216-231).

The Arabic language content of the file is limited to approximately five folios, mostly correspondence (with English translations) from the Political Agent, Bahrain, to the rulers of Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

The file also contains copies of earlier correspondence concerning the occupation of Khor al Odeid by Abu Dhabi, dated 1904-06 (folios 104-109).