'File 14/15 Middle East Oil' [‎6r] (11/38)

m/mmm
- 3 -
7
0
\2, Other countries viith a financial stakes in i.xiuulo iiiast oil ax’e one French, \.iio
have a share in the Iraq. Petroleum Company aiia tue pipeline to Tripoli, ;.nd ciio Dutch,
(Royal Dutch in conjunction with the Shell Company)• Finally tne Russians, thpu^u at
present they hold neither concessions nor oil installations in tne kiualc Rest, cly.irn
the sole right to oil concessions over the whole of Nor then, Persia anu are ,-iOst
actively engaged in pressing their claims on unwilling Persia.
kiddle East Productioii atie i^ esourcc s.
•io, : Persia,
13 , Oil is at present produced in the * foliovin t xiiddle Past co.un
Iraq., Saudi Arabia, Bahrein, E^j-pt, Kuwait ana the Qatar' Peninsula.
•td. Production in 1944 anu estimated reserves of known fields at cub . - of 1944
are summarised in the following table, Figures for 1943 arc not yec available ouc it it
knonn that in nearly every case, with the ex cepe i/3 n of E ( \ypt, production in 1945 was
considerably higher than in 1944 *
Middle East Oil Production and Estimated
Reserves of Kn o wn O il fields, 19^4.
Countries,
Production
(Mill ion b arrels )
Estimated Reserves
(Mi llion barrels)
Persia •
Iraq
Bahrein & Saudi Arabia.
Kuwait,
Egypt.
Qatar Peoinsula*
100
28
16
10
5 ,e 00
i ,000
7,0 JO
500
Total
154
15,
O il Pr o ducing Coun tries^ ox' Midd le Ea
rsi
Persic was the first Middle East country to prouuce oil co,j..iarcialiy' ana soils
heats the production in the area. The first concession to prospect xur >ii fs_sia
wac f ranted in'1901 to William Knox D’Arcy, a Bricish suojecc. Ii covered an area^of
50C .000 squD.ro miles and was for a period of sixty years. Oxl in workable ^guync iuics
v/as first die covered in 1908, at Masj id-i-Sulaiman. This was foidcr^ cd by uatg xoruio.t:ion
-f t hy .-nglc-Persian Oil Company, nVx; the j;Rs 0 lo-Iran ian Oil Cdmpi-ny (a. i.O.U.j. •Snor oxy
be the G-reat War the British Government, at the suggestion of tuc i fc d..iiri-.lty, *vi:ich
h'af jus - ' added upon the use of oil instead of coal for the Navy, acquirou. yo>o Ox uiC
Glares of the a. 1.0. C. , thus obtaining a control which they still sol-.. Tue riOi^inal _
cc^' u. nf the Cajpany is now £33 million. Of this, rather more than i.ixliot, is -n
ore iary stock of which H.k.G. holds soi.ie £11 , 250 ,OuO.
^6 Production began in 1913 and was rapidly accelerated during she 'u-r years,
reacning 1 , 500,000 tons by 1919 . In the post-war years production continued to expand
and reached 8 , 360 ,000 tons in 1938. In the meantime, in 1932 relations between the
Persian Government and the dl.O.C. had become strained and the Government .endeavoured
to cancel the concession. After much controversy a new sixty-year concession was granted
an 29 ,upril 1935. v Under the new concession the area was reduced to 100, Id squaxe mxico,
various other privileges were withdrawn from the Company and the royalties and taxes to
be paid to the Persian Government were considerably increased. The.present concession
covers the area- south of a line drawn roughly from Kermanshah to bhiras ana along ne
mountains on ttM Baluchistan frontier (see map actachedj. In Jury- l^mO, .vi»,n thu.
prosoect of a fall in revenue due to decreased production owing so cu* war,.* relations
between ,he Persian Government and the Company again became surained anu tne Government
agaiii tried to attack the concession. They were supported oy 'cue dovioC Ameassy ana
the Nazi Legation both of whom were working to weaken the position of cue ariuisn inter-
ests there. .Under pressure, a new temporary agreement wa~ roacheu oecwwen tua v .d.x. .
and the* Persian Government by which the Company agreed 00 i.jp.iutain . .ai- c...x y^.cio^
at ■ -ate based on the highest production figure reached in recon 0 yours, irreb*)ective
of x fell in production that might occur owing to the war or otaer causes, in actual
fac , after a fall to 5 , 100,000 tons in 1941, production rosa s twe .ly ana in 1944
cee
Cl a. ^ y —r'-' — ^ ^ ^ ^ ■ s
500 ,'300 tons, payments from the Oil Co.-isa/jy to i.i_ Pe.kiiai) Oove. n„
A
.Resent oua