'IRAQ AND THE PERSIAN GULF' [‎112r] (228/862)

COASTS OF THE PERSIAN GULF The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. 147
Saffaniya and Ras al Mishaab, 18 miles north-west, a cape with
sheltered anchorage to the south-east.
From approximately the fourth to the fiftieth mile north-west of
Ras al Mishaab the coast is that of the neutral zone owned jointly by
Nejd and Kuwait. It is mainly covered by the salt-marsh of Tuffat
al Adhami, which is usually dry but is impassable in wet weather; a
sulphur stream flows through the south-east part. There are isolated
sandhills, and the desert here rises to a bare gravel plain over 700
feet high about 50 miles inland. There is no shelter from the strong
north-north-west winds, except for small craft, anywhere between
Ras al Mishaab and Ras al Ardh, nearly 90 miles north-west.
The south boundary of the sultanate of Kuwait is 3 miles south of
Ras al Qaliya, a low point. From Ras al Qaliya the coast is low and
stony for 36 miles to Ras al Ardh at the south-east entrance of Kuwait
bay. There are four villages with wells, and the route from Qatif to
Kuwait converges on the coast.
There are oil-wells at Burgan, about 27 miles south of Kuwait and
10 miles inland, owned by the Kuwait Oil Company. This company
was formed in 1934 by an alliance of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company
and the Gulf Corporation, and is under British control. The first
drilling, at Bahra on the north shore of Kuwait bay in 1936, was
unsuccessful, but a large field of oil was struck at Burgan in 1938.
There is as yet no refinery or pipe-line, but a jetty has been built at
Shuwaikh (p. 149), and there are good prospects for future oil
development.
3. The Head of the Gulf, from Ras al Ardh to
Ras al Bahrgan (fig. 39)
General
The coast of the head of the gulf includes, from south-west to
north-east, part of the coast of Kuwait from Ras al Ardh to Khor
Zubair, the entire coast of Iraq from Khor Zubair to the Shatt al
Arab, and part of the coast of Persia from the Shatt al Arab to Ras al
Bahrgan.
Except for Kuwait harbour, which is surrounded by sandy desert,
the coast is composed of the deltas of the Shatt al Arab (the estuary
of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers) and Bahmishir (the natural mouth
of the Karun river), and of the marshes and flats on either side of
Khor Musa. The soft alluvial mud, deposited in recent historical
times (fig. 14), prevents the construction of a commercial port near
the river mouths, and the main routes and large ports are on firmer