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Saudi Arabia
External Boundaries
Saudi Arabia is bounded by seven countries and three bodies of
water. To the west, the Gulf of Aqaba and the Red Sea form a coastal
border of almost 1,800 kilometers that extends south to Yemen
and follows a mountain ridge for approximately 320 kilometers
to the vicinity of Najran. This section of the border with Yemen
was demarcated in 1934 and is one of the few clearly defined borders
with a neighboring country. The Saudi border running southeast
from Najran, however, is still undetermined . The undemarcated
border became an issue in the early 1990s, when oil was discovered
in the area and Saudi Arabia objected to the commercial exploration
by foreign companies on behalf of Yemen. In the summer of 1992,
representatives of Saudi Arabia and Yemen met in Geneva to discuss
settlement of the border issue.
To the north, Saudi Arabia is bounded by Jordan, Iraq, and Kuwait.
The northern boundary extends almost 1,400 kilometers from the
Gulf of Aqaba on the west to Ras al Khafji on the Persian Gulf.
In 1965 Saudi Arabia and Jordan agreed to boundary demarcations
involving an exchange of small areas of territory that gave Jordan
some essential additional land near Aqaba, its only port.
In 1922 Abd al Aziz ibn Abd ar Rahman Al Saud (r. 1902-53) and
British officials representing Iraqi interests signed the Treaty
of Mohammara, which established the boundary between Iraq and
the future Saudi Arabia. Later that year, the Al Uqair Convention
signed by the two parties agreed to the creation of a diamond-shaped
Iraq-Saudi Arabia Neutral Zone of approximately 7,000 square kilometers,
adjacent to the western tip of Kuwait, within which neither Iraq
nor Saudi Arabia would build permanent dwellings or installations.
The agreement was designed to safeguard water rights in the zone
for beduin of both countries. In May 1938, Iraq and Saudi Arabia
signed an additional agreement regarding the administration of
the zone. Forty-three years later, Saudi Arabia and Iraq signed
an agreement that defined the border between the two countries
and provided for the division of the neutral zone between them.
The agreement effectively dissolved the neutral zone.
The boundary between Abd al Aziz's territories of Najd and the
Eastern Province and the British protectorate of Kuwait was first
regulated by the Al Uqair Convention in 1922. In an effort to
avoid territorial disputes, another diamond-shaped Divided Zone
of 5,790 square kilometers directly south of Kuwait was established.
In 1938 oil was discovered in Kuwait's southern Burqan fields,
and both countries contracted with foreign oil companies to perform
exploration work in the Divided Zone. After years of discussions,
Saudi Arabia and Kuwait reached an agreement in 1965 that divided
the zone geographically, with each country administering its half
of the zone. The agreement guaranteed that the rights of both
parties to the natural resources in the whole zone would continue
to be respected (see Brief History , ch. 3) after each country
had annexed its half of the zone in 1966.
Saudi Arabia's eastern boundary follows the Persian Gulf from
Ras al Khafji to the peninsula of Qatar, whose border with Saudi
Arabia was determined in 1965. The Saudi border with the state
of Oman, on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, runs
through the Empty Quarter (Rub al Khali). The border demarcation
was defined by a 1990 agreement between Saudi Arabia and Oman
that included provisions for shared grazing rights and use of
water resources. The border through Al Buraymi Oasis, located
near the conjunction of the frontiers of Oman, Abu Dhabi (one
of the emirates of the UAE), and Saudi Arabia, has triggered extensive
dispute among the three states since the Treaty of Jiddah in 1927.
In a 1975 agreement with Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi accepted sovereignty
over six villages in the Al Buraymi Oasis and the sharing of the
rich Zararah oil field. In return, Saudi Arabia obtained an outlet
to the Persian Gulf through Abu Dhabi.
Saudi Arabia's maritime claims include a twelve-nautical-mile
territorial limit along its coasts. The Saudis also claim many
small islands as well as some seabeds and subsoils beyond the
twelve-nautical-mile limit.
Data as of December 1992
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