'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. I. 1918' [‎230] (239/568)

230
COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY
in view of the importance of securing a controlled supply for the
needs of the Royal Navy, has invested largely in the company, and
in consideration of this financial support arrangements have been
made which give the Government the supervision of the Company's
general policy and of the further development of the concession.
(а) Production in Ardbistan. —The Anglo-Persian Oil Company's
producing field is at Maidan-i-Naftun 26- 30 miles SSE. of Shushtar.
At Maidan-i-Naftun an area of about 3-| square miles was proved
by 1918. The wells drilled here have so far given an abundant
yield, and prospects of further development are good. Some
promising areas have been found in the neighbourhood. A 10-in.
pipe-line carries oil from the Maidan-i-Naftun field to the refinery at
Abbadan on the Shatt el-Arab. At the beginning of the war the
Abbadan refinery had storage for 60,000 tons of crude oil and 50,000
tons of refined oil; but the storage capacity has since been increased,
and further considerable extensions were in progress at the end of
1917. The native labour employed by the company is mainly Lur.
There is some insignificant collection of oil by natives near Maidan-
i-Naftun, at Mesjid-i-Suleiman (where the wells are exploited by the
Seyyids of Shushtar), and at Shardan near Ramuz. The oil thus
obtained is used chiefly for anointing camels against the mange.
(б) Production in Turkish Territory
of Kirmanshah. —The places on Turkish territory where oil was
more or less regularly obtained are Mandali (Neft Khaneh), Chlah
Surkh, Abu Sarkal (near Tuz Khurmatli), Kirkuk, and Kaiyara.
There seems to have been some collection (possibly intermittent)
of oil at Zakho. The Chlah Surkh and Neft Khaneh wells were in
Persian territory until the delimitation of the frontier in 1914, when
they were transferred to Turkey, the rights of the Anglo-Persian Oil
Company in the ceded areas being preserved. On the Persian side
of the present frontier, in the province of Kirmanshah, the Kurds
collect oil in places, e. g. at Imam Hasan E. of Khanikin. Up to
1914 the Chlah Surkh wells were worked on a small scale by the
Anglo-Persian Oil Company. The Turkish Government leased wells
on its territory to contractors. Elsewhere than at Chlah Surkh oil
was collected in skins and transported to local refineries by donkeys.
There were stills, where refining was carried on by primitive pro
cesses, at Kirkuk, Tuz Khurmatli, Mandali, and Kaiyara. Production
was on a very small scale. The Mandali springs yielded about 500
gallons a day: those at Kirkuk and Abu Sarkal about 130 and 150
gallons respectively. (On the prospects of the Neft Khaneh field
near Mandali see p. 60.) The oil produced was used for lighting, for
lubrication, and as a medicine for camel-mange.