IOR/R/15/2/871

The file contains correspondence relating to how the dispute between Bahrain and Qatar over Zubarah has affected the work of Petroleum Concessions Limited. The principle correspondents are: the Political Agent at Bahrain; Sir Charles Belgrave, Advisor to the Government of Bahrain; Shaikh Sulman bin Hamad Al Khalifa [Salmān bin Ḥamad Āl Khalīfah], ruler of Bahrain; Shaikh Abdulla bin Qasim Al-Thani [‘Abdullāh bin Qāsim Āl Thānī], ruler of Qatar; and representatives (usually Ernest Vincent Packer) of Petroleum Concessions Limited (hereafter, the company) and its subsidiary, Petroleum Development (Qatar) Limited.

The matters covered by the file are mostly founded on the rival historic claims to the old settlement of Zubarah. They are as follows:

• the need to settle normal relations between the two countries, partly driven by the clarity needed to define oil concessions;
• the company's attempts to buy land in Manama which lead to conditions imposed by the ruler of Bahrain concerning mosques, tombs and properties in Zubarah that are claimed by the Āl Khalīfah family;
• disagreements over the company's use of the port of Sitra in Bahrain, and what they are permitted to import and export;
• a meeting held between Packer and Shaikh Salmān on 15 February 1947 to settle these issues;
• incidences of violence and conflict between Bahraini seamen employed by the company and Qatari guards at Zekrit during 1947 and 1948;
• the refusal by Qatari authorities to allow Shaikh Shafi bin Salim, head of the Bani Hajir tribe, and his four sons to land at Zekrit in July 1948.

Folios 43-45 are internal office notes.