IOR/L/PS/12/3910

The file concerns the signing of the oil concession agreement between Petroleum Concessions Limited (through its subsidiary, Petroleum Development (Trucial Coast) Limited) and the Ruler of Abu Dhabi, and the ratification of the agreement by the British Government.

The papers cover: the initial reluctance of the Ruler of Abu Dhabi to sign an agreement, and discussion of the suggestion that the British should employ an ultimatum to bring him to agreement, August 1938 - April 1939; copies of the commercial agreement between Shaikh Shakhbut bin Sultan bin Za'id [Shakhbūt bin Sulṭān bin Zāyid Āl Nahyān], Ruler of Abu Dhabi and Petroleum Development (Trucial Coast) Limited signed on 11 January 1939; issues arising from the fact that the commercial agreement had been signed in Arabic only (including a copy of the Arabic original), folios 75-100; India Office minutes; comments by the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Trenchard Craven William Fowle) and other British Government departments; discussion of the possible future exploitation of natural gas in the area (July-August 1939 and February 1940); draft and signed copies of the political agreement between HM Government and Petroleum Development (Trucial Coast) Limited, signed on 11 April 1940; and the suspension of oil exploration in the area as a result of wartime conditions, 1940-43.

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.