IOR/R/15/2/161

The volume concerns negotiations between the British and Saudi Arabian governments over the question of how to settle the eastern frontier of Saudi Arabia.

The principal correspondents are: HM Minister, Jedda (principally Sir Reader William Bullard); the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (principally Lieutenant-Colonel Trenchard Craven William Fowle); officials of the India Office, the Government of India, and the Foreign Office; and the Saudi Arabian Minister for Foreign Affairs (Amir Faisal [Fayṣal bin ‘Abd al-‘Azīz Āl Sa‘ūd]).

The papers cover: the attitude of Ibn Saud [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd] to the frontier question; the boundary with Qatar; the boundary with Abu Dhabi; the British maintenance of the Blue Line as the frontier; the activities of the California Arabian Standard Oil Company (CASOC) in the area, including allegations of encroachment by the company to the east of the Blue Line (folios 104-105); the status of Khor al Odeid and Jabal Naksh, and their possible cession to Saudi Arabia; the effect on negotiations of British policy in Palestine; and the activities of Petroleum Concessions Limited, including the need to guard against encroachment upon the southern boundary of the company's concession (folio 229).