'IRAQ AND THE PERSIAN GULF' [‎318r] (638/862)

OIL
497
oil, which yields 20 per cent, petrol, 18 per cent, kerosene, and 62
per cent, fuel oil. There is ample storage capacity at the Alwand
refinery and at Khanaqin railhead depot for the refined products
(including aviation spirit), as well as storage for 450,000 gallons of
crude oil at Alwand. About 30,000 gallons of aviation spirit are
maintained in tins as a reserve at Khanaqin depot, where a tin-making
plant has a maximum output of 2,000 4-gallon tins a day. There
are also facilities at the depot for blending aviation spirit. The whole
of the oil from this field is marketed in Iraq.
Oil in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. (fig. 78)
Outside the boundaries of Iraq, the A.I.O.C., which owns 23! per
cent, of the capital of the I.P.C., works all the oilfields at present
known on the Persian side of the gulf, and owns the oil concession
for all land likely to yield oil in this area. On the Arabian side the
search is as keen as in Iraq. The Kuwait Oil Company, formed by
the A.I.O.C. and the Gulf Corporation in 1934, struck oil at Burgan
in 1938, and there are good prospects for the future (p. 147). Farther
down the coast the California Arabian Standard Oil Company with
its associates and subsidiaries holds most of the concessions, with
fields in production on Bahrein island (p. 144) and at Damman (Jabal
Dhahran) near Qatif on the mainland to the west (p. 142). A field
on the Qatar peninsula has been drilled (p. 140), and two others are
being drilled between Qatif and Kuwait, one at Abu Hadriya, the
other at Maagala, both inland from the coast and distant about 100
and 120 miles from Qatif. The rest of the coast is being explored.
Crude oil produced by the A.I.O.C., mostly in the Masjid-i-
Sulaiman and Haft-Kel oilfields, is piped through Ahwaz to the great
oil refineries at Abadan, on the Persian side of the Shatt al Arab
(photo. 67). The only refinery on the Arabian side of the gulf in
1940 was on Bahrein island. Details of war-time developments and
projects are not yet available for publication.
Rafidain Oil Company (R.O.C.)
In May 1932 the K.O.C., in co-operation with the I.P.C., trans
ferred the marketing of all oil products in Iraq to a new concern,
the Rafidain Oil Company. The R.O.C. not only markets the pro
ducts of the K.O.C., mostly in the Baghdad area and northern Iraq,
but distributes imports purchased from the A.I.O.C.’s refinery at
Abadan, mostly in the south.
The amount of oil and oil products issued from the Khanaqin oil
A 5195 Kk