IOR/R/15/2/861

The file contains correspondence relating to survey expeditions carried out in the Trucial Coast (today's United Arab Emirates) region by Petroleum Development (Trucial Coast) Limited, a subsidiary of Petroleum Concessions Limited. The correspondence is principally between the Residency Agent at Sharjah, the Political Officer of the Trucial Coast, also at Sharjah, the Political Agent at Bahrain, representatives of Petroleum Concessions Limited and Petroleum Development (Trucial Coast) Limited, the India Office, the rulers of Sharjah, Ras al Khaimah [Ra's al-Khaymah], and Abu Dhabi, as well as the leaders of a number of more minor tribes.

The correspondence covers the arrangements for, and the progress of, survey work carried out by the company during the winters of 1945/46, 1946/47, and 1947/48, in the vicinities of Jabal Faiyah and Buraimi [Al-Buraymī], including a reconnaissance trip through Wadi al Gor. Contained in the file are regular updates on the progress of the surveys sent by company representatives to either the Residency Agent or the Political Officer at Sharjah.

Matters of a political nature were referred by the company to the Residency Agent or the Political Officer, and the following issues are covered within the file:

• numerous incidents of resistance from local Bedouin inhabitants, usually triggered by transgression of tribal boundaries;
• pay arrangements for guards and labourers, including a strike by workers in October 1946;
• the employment of non-British subjects (namely Americans);
• tribal and territorial allegiances that impacted on the work of the surveyors.

Folio 102 is a sketch map of the area explored around Ajman [‘Ajmān] and Umm al Qaiwain [Umm al Qaywayn].

Folios 211-232 are internal office notes, including extracts from the oil concession agreement with Shaikh Sultan II bin Saqr of Sharjah [Sulṭān II bin Saqr Āl Qāsimī].