IOR/L/PS/12/2138

This volume primarily concerns British policy regarding the eastern and south-eastern boundaries of Saudi Arabia, specifically those bordering Qatar, Abu Dhabi and Muscat (i.e. the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman). Much of the correspondence relates to British concerns that oil companies operating in the region may begin prospecting in disputed territory.

References are made to various existing and proposed lines, including the 'blue line' (laid down in the non-ratified Anglo-Ottoman Convention of 1913 and redefined and adopted in the Anglo-Ottoman convention of the following year). Reference is also made to a 'final offer' proposed by the British to the Saudi Government in November 1935, since which time no conclusion has been reached.

Matters discussed in the correspondence include:

• The reported activity of the California Arabian Standard Oil Company (Casoc) near Qasr-es-Salwa [Salwá, Saudi Arabia] (located east of the blue line), and whether this activity necessitates a renewed effort by the British to reach a settlement with Ibn Saud [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd] regarding the Qatar-Saudi boundary.
• Ibn Saud's claim to Jebel Nakhsh [Khashm an Nakhsh, Qatar], which lies in territory included in the Qatar oil concession.
• Whether the Shaikh of Abu Dhabi should be persuaded to cede Khor-el-Odeid [Khawr al ‘Udayd] to Ibn Saud.
• The impact of Britain's Palestine policy on Anglo-Saudi relations.
• The Foreign Office's suggestion that the Khor-el-Odeid question should be submitted to arbitration.

In addition to correspondence dating from 1937-39, the volume contains copies of correspondence dating from April 1904 (including translations of two letters from the Shaikh of Abu Dhabi), which discusses Abu Dhabi's claim to Khor-el-Odeid.

Correspondents include the following: the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (Lieutenant-Colonel Trenchard Craven William Fowle); the Political Agent, Bahrain (Captain Tom Hickinbotham); His Majesty's Minister at Jedda (Sir Reader William Bullard); the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, Viscount Halifax); the Secretary of State for India and Burma (Lawrence John Lumley Dundas, 2nd Marquess of Zetland); the Viceroy of India (Victor Alexander John Hope, Lord Linlithgow); the Minister for Saudi Foreign Affairs [Fayṣal bin ‘Abd al-‘Azīz Āl Sa‘ūd]; officials of the Foreign Office, the India Office, and the Government of India's External Affairs Department.

Also included are the following: copies of the minutes of meetings of the Committee of Imperial Defence's Standing Official Sub-Committee for Questions Concerning the Middle East, dated 8 November 1937 and 8 February 1938; a sketch map depicting the various possible boundary lines of south-eastern Saudi Arabia.

The volume includes a divider which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the volume by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence (folio 2).