The Crisis of the Omani Buraimi Oasis in the Middle of the Twentieth Century: A Study in Origins and Outcomes

The Buraimi Crisis was one of the most significant issues to emerge on the Arab Gulf Scene in the mid-twentieth century. There was no evident conflict prior to this year. The presence of oil in the Arabian Gulf region, as well as the sharing of concessions by American and British firms in the region, led to a convergence of interest in this region, and this was perhaps one of the most fundamental causes for the development of the crisis. As a result, foreign oil firms began to escalate the dispute between the Arab parties; and the Arab Gulf Governments' policies were influenced by this problem. When the relevant parties realized that they needed to resolve the situation by mutual consent by partitioning the areas of oil fields and water canals, Britain withdrew the Arabian Gulf region in 1971. When the dispute between Oman and Saudi Arabia was resolved in 1971, as well as the crisis between the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia in 1974, it had a significant impact on Arab relations around the world up to a quarter-century.