IOR/L/PS/12/3836

The file concerns negotiations between Petroleum Concessions Limited (PCL) and the rulers of several states on the Trucial Coast over oil concession agreements. Petroleum Concessions Limited was the company approved by the British Government to seek oil concessions in the area; it later operated under its subsidiary company Petroleum Development (Trucial Coast) Limited. The papers principally relate to Ras-al-Khaimah and Abu Dhabi, but also concern Dubai, Sharjah, Umm-al-Qaiwain, Ajman, and Kalba.

The papers consist of correspondence and memoranda issued by the India Office, the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, and the Political Agent, Bahrain; and correspondence from the oil companies involved and local rulers (including four folios in Arabic, with English translations).

The papers cover: correspondence concerning undertakings by local rulers to protect oil surveying parties in their territories, and the amount of their liability in the event of any incidents; the involvement of Major Frank Holmes and Haji Williamson [William Richard Williamson]; the demarcation of boundaries in the Trucial Coast; draft agreements relating to Ras-al-Khaimah; British concern over interest in the area on the part of the American company California Arabian Standard Oil; the definition of the phrase 'the Trucial Sheikhs' (folios 386-387); papers concerning a request by PCL for permission from the British Government to employ a French assistant geologist (August-September 1937); a PCL report on the progress of negotiations in Abu Thabi [Abu Dhabi], February 1938 (folios 218-226); other draft agreements; minutes of meetings between British officials and PCL; statement giving the financial terms of certain oil agreements in Arabia (folios 144-147); and the prolongation of the agreement between the Ruler of Ras-al-Khaimah, Shaikh Sultan bin Salem, and Petroleum Development (Trucial Coast) Limited in 1941, as a result of the international situation (the Second World War, 1939-45).

The file includes a divider, which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.