IOR/L/PS/12/3924

The file concerns the interest of the Kuwait Oil Company in exploring for submarine oil deposits beyond the limits of Kuwait's territorial waters, and the issue of territorial waters in the Persian Gulf generally, in the light of the United States Government's proclamation of 1945 concerning the continental shelf [the Truman Proclamation].

The papers include: a request from the Kuwait Oil Company to the India Office for a ruling by the British Government on the extent of Kuwait territorial waters, and proposals that the company should acquire an oil concession beyond Kuwait's territorial waters, 1939; India Office minutes, and comments by the Admiralty, Petroleum Department, and Foreign Office concerning the issue, 1940; related maps; the decision that the issue should be left until the end of the war [the Second World War], 1940; copies of the proclamation issued by United States President Harry S Truman on 28 September 1945, stating that the resources on the continental shelf contiguous to the United States belonged to the United States [the Truman Proclamation] (e.g. folios 313-314); correspondence and memoranda from the Foreign Office, the India Office, the Ministry of Fuel and Power, the Government of India, the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, and the Colonial Office, and minutes of interdepartmental meetings, discussing the effect of the continental shelf policy on British territories, 1945-48; the specific implications of the continental shelf policy to the Persian Gulf (for instance in the light of the Iranian claim to Bahrain); related maps; and a further expression of interest from the Kuwait Oil Company in obtaining marine oil rights beyond Kuwait territorial waters, October 1947.

There are no papers in the file dated 1941-44.

The Arabic language content of the file consists of a single letter from the Political Agent, Kuwait (with English translation), dated 1947.

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.