From Pearls to Oil: How The Oil Industry Came to the United Arab Emirates by David Heard (2012-05-04)

Pearling provided work and wealth for generations of Gulf Arabs. While the demand for these pearls was declining in the early 1930s, British oil men, sent by Petroleum Concessions Limited (PCL) first set foot on the Trucial Coast. The British Government of India was the regional power, aloof and domineering, keeping a watchful eye on the oil men, the chief actors in the following tale of rivalry and intrigue. They were London-based managers and two Gulf Hajis - one a respected Arab businessman and the other an adventurer from Bristol - and a controversial entrepreneurial concession seeker from New Zealand, whom PCL, contrary to advice, commissioned to negotiate with the Rulers. From Pearls to Oil is the story of the challenges faced by these rather remarkable men, who initiated the search for oil in the United Arab Emirates in the years between the two World Wars. Contents: List of Maps; List of Photographs; Common Acronyms; Names and Transliterations; Acknowledgements; 1. Abu Dhabi as it was; 2. How the Middle East Oil Industry Started; 3. Back to the Beginning and then to continue the story of oil discovery; 4. Petroleum Concessions Limited (PCL): The First Years 1935 - 1936; 5. 1936, An Unexpectedly Frustrating Year; 6. Geological Progress in 1937 as PCL get to work, under the watchful eye of HMG; 7. Intrigues and Doubts; 8. PCL open a new chapter; 9. More Mischief and No More Concessions; 10. Some further progress at last; 11. At last, serious negotiations with Sheik Shakhbut bin Sultan; Epilogue, Bibliography; Appendices