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Consul-General at Muscat, wrote to the Sultan recording his interpretation of themap readings as given him by the Sultan himself as:
18° 45' N. X 52° E., Ramlat Shu'uait
to
18° N. X 52° 20' E., Wadi Khawat
to
to17° 10' N. X 52° 45' E., Jebal Sadakh (Wadi Habarut)
toRas Darbat Ali on the coast.("")
To this letter the Sultan replied disagreeing on some points with the line thus drawn,and describing what he considered to be the correct boundary in terms of physicalfeatures, which was imprecise in some respects. In 1955 the Governor of Adenstated in connection with a post which it was proposed to establish in the WadiHabarut, that he was satisfied that the boundary claimed by the Sultan wassubstantially correct, subject to minor adjustments, and the Sultan was soinformed.()
78. It was estimated that a proper demarcation would be a long and tediousoperation, taking up to three years, and costing over £160,000. Her Majesty'sGovernment decided, therefore, not to pursue the matter.(*) Various attemptsat settlement were, however, made including talks held at Habarut in 1961 whichwere without result. Eventually in 1962 the Sultan intimated that he was preparedto abide by the boundary accepted by the Governor of Aden in 1955. It appeared,however, that there had been a misunderstanding. The boundary as understoodby the Governor was an approximately straight line based on Major Chauncy'sco-ordinates, while the Sultan assumed that it was the boundary given in hisdescription of physical features. He claimed that the Governor's reply was anacceptance of his claim to certain disputed wadis west of the boundary as it wasunderstood in Aden. The discrepancy between the Governor's and the Sultan'sinterpretation of the boundary made agreement difficult, and none had beenreached up to the end of 1964.
(B) ABU DHABI
79. In view of the possibility of conflicting claims by oil companies it becamedesirable to survey and delimit that part of the Muscat/Abu Dhabi frontier lyingsouth of the Buraimi Oasis as far as the wells of Umm al Zamul. The Sultan andthe Ruler of Abu Dhabi reached a general agreement on the line of the frontier in1960 and 1961 and the survey was carried out by Mr. Buckmaster in the winter of1963-64. In the course of the survey it became clear that in spite of their agreementthe Sultan and the Ruler of Abu Dhabi were in dispute as to the ownership of thetwo wells at Umm al Zamul itself, which were claimed both by the Awamir (AbuDhabi) and by the Duru' (Muscat and Oman).
80. Mr. Buckmaster was of the opinion that the Awamir had the bettercase,(*) but the Sultan refused to abandon his claim. He proposed that thereshould be a “neutral zone” in the immediate vicinity of the wells, in which theoil companies concerned (Abu Dhabi Petroleum Co., Ltd., and PetroleumDevelopment (Oman) Limited) would not be allowed to operate. The Ruler ofAbu Dhabi did not agree to this. The matter was left undecided and Her Majesty'sGovernment instructed the companies that they should not operate within one mileof the wells. Apart from the “neutral zone” the survey encountered no particulardifficulties, and the frontier as delimited runs from just north of Umm al Zamulnorthwards approximately through Naqa Zahar, Naqa Naif, Sih al Haira, NagaHur, Shantut, Sih Gnaiyyir and Tawi Muhanna, and thence to Naqa al Hauz onthe western edge of Jebal Hafit immediately south of the Buraimi villages.(61)
(57) CGM to Sultan, 121/9/54 of 24 April, 1954.(58) Governor Aden to CO, Telegram 82 of 18 February, 1955 (ES 1081/44 of 1955).(59) CO to FO, CCA 16/7/03 of 20 May, 1955 (ES 1081/84 of 1955).(60) PA Dubai to PR, 1083/64 of 9 March, 1964 (ET 1082/11 of 1964).
(61) MOD to FO, MO 4/125 of 18 June, 1964. Report on Survey Task (Annex A) (BT 1082/19of 1964).
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