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File 1450/1919 ‘Mesopotamia & Kurdistan: Geological Reports on’ [195v] (413/522)
The record is made up of 1 volume (244 folios). It was created in 1 Dec 1917-26 Jun 1922. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
(35) Nafatah .—Nefatali is in a class by itself, and although it seems most
likely that the oil comes from the Asmari Limestone Series, there is absolutely
no evidence at all here. When the Euphrates district is being tested for oil
a well will have to be drilled here before any judgment can be pronounced.
An oil seepage by no means necessarily implies a productive oil sand beneath,
but in this region of very gentle almost imperceptible folding a single well
drilled at or near the seepage will be decisive for the vicinity.
PART 8 .—ENGINEERING.
(36) Waft Khana—The main Engineering problems for first tests, apart
from equipment, consist of road making and water and fuel supply.
Military roads exist at present to, or almost to, all the oil sites herein
discussed.
Water is a matter of some difficulty at Naft Khana where the Ab-i-Naft
River contains a lot of salt and gypsum, and would necessitate the cleaning of
a steam boiler after perhaps a few days only, and the insertion of at least some
new tubes after a very few weeks. The Kani Khasan river, nearly three
miles from the location, is said to have pools of brackish water in the summer.
These two are the only sources of water available during the summer months.
It was impossible to get reliable information as the local natives all go away
into the hills during the hot weather, but of the brackish or gypseous nature
of most of the ! water here there can be no doubt, on account of the proximity
of the middle and lower fars rocks. It appears then very improbable that
water suitable for boilers will be, found within reasonable distance of Naft
Khana. The point could be finally resolved by analyses of samples of the
water collected at the end of the summer when the mineral content will be at
its maximum. If the water is unsuitable for boilers, either a w r ater condensing
plant will have to be installed, or-else drilling could be done by an internal
combustion engine through electric or other form of transmission. One of the
last named alternatives would appear to possess many advantages over steam
drilling at Naft Khana, subject to the water being proved unfit for use m
boilers.
The supply of fuel is happily a much easier matter since from the seepages
sufficient oil can probably be obtained for drilling purposes. If a Diesel type
engine be used no refining of the oil would be required, but for a kerosene
engine it would be necessary to subject the oil from the seepages to a simple
distillation. Steam drilling would consume at the least four times as much oil
as drilling by Diesel engine.
(37) Drilling at Haft Khana —Drilling this anticline should offer no
difficulties at all, the strata penetrated dip at. 15 degrees only and this
inclination is not enough to tend to deflect the drill, nor will the clays ana
shales cave so much as they do when steeply inclined. The hardest .beds
encountered will be those of limestone, sandstone and probably 0 C ^ sl 01 J a
anhydrite, but they fwill not be sufficiently hard to cause the least difhcu y.
It is of course possible that the Asmari Limestone may be reached but this is
not very likely. It is very probable that high gas pressure will be encountered,
and for this reason, as well as for a necessary precautionary, measure, cln
should be carried forward with a pilot hole from the first significant s iow o
oil or gas. It is possibly superfluous to mention the extreme importance oi
casing of each show of water as it is struck.
Too mucli emphasis cannot he laid on the necessity for keeping careful
and exact data of everything met with in the bore. Samples should be a en
and labelled every time a change of strata occurs, and if there is no c ange
they should be taken every 10 feet, when unnecessary intermediate samp es
can be discarded by the Geologist. Every strike of water, gas or oil should oe
recorded with exact depth, type of rock and the fullest notes possib c as o
quantity, pressure, smell and any other peculiarities. Without t e nios
rigorous attention to these matters, apart from the striking of oil, a firs os
is wasted, since the valuable information necessary to the ^ e 0 ' 5 ) o 1 ®
choosing future locations, conserving rock pressure, etc., is lost, and he no s
little more than he can tell without drilling a well at all.
About this item
- Content
This volume contains correspondence, memoranda, reports, telegrams and maps and geological drawings, regarding the geological examination of regions in Mesopotamia and the prospect of petroleum [oil] in these areas.
Included in the volume are the following reports:
- ‘MESOPOTAMIA GEOLOGICAL REPORTS No. 7-11’ (‘No. 7’ is crossed out and replaced with ‘No. 8’), 1920 (ff 9-22)
- ‘GEOLOGICAL REPORT (Mesopotamia) No. 7 NOTES ON THE UNDERGROUND WATER RESOURCES OF NORTHEN MESOPOTAMIA’, 1920 (ff 25-31)
- ‘GEOLOGICAL REPORT (Mesopotamia) No. 6 NOTES ON ZAKHO AND DOHUK [Duhok]’, 1920 (ff 41-44)
- ‘MESOPOTAMIA GEOLOGICAL REPORT 1919’, 1920 (ff 57-109)
- ‘REPORT OF THE BITUMINOUS DEPOSIT NEAR KIFRI’, 1919 (f 114)
- ‘GEOLOGICAL REPORT (Mesopotamia) No 5. THE KIFRI DISTRICT’ (ff 115-116)
- ‘GEOLOGICAL REPORT (Mesopotamia) No 4. RECONNAISSANCE REPORT ON THE COUNTRY ON THE RIGHT BANK OF THE RIVER TIGRIS BETWEEN BAIJI AND MOSUL’, 1919 (ff 122-129)
- ‘GEOLOGICAL REPORT (Mesopotamia) No 3. RECONNAISSANCE REPORT ON THE EUPHRATES VALLEY BETWEEN HILLAH AND HIT’, 1919 (ff 131-143)
- ‘GEOLOGICAL REPORT (Mesopotamia) No 2. PRELIMINARY NOTES ON THE JABAL HAMRIN’, 1919 (f 143)
- ‘GEOLOGICAL REPORT (Mesopotamia) No 1 ON THE DISTRICT OF QAIYARAH [Al Qayyarah]’, 1919 (ff 146-151)
- ‘APPENDIX. Translation of a Captured Document. Report of a Tour to the Coal Area and Petroleum Springs in the Zone of the Sixth L. of C. Inspectorate’, 1919 (ff 156-158)
- ‘No 13. Notes on the Jabal Gilabat [Qilabat] between Chinchal-al-Kabir and Qarah Tappah’, 1919 (f 164)
- ‘No 14. Notes on the Jabal Hamrin between Qarah Tappah and Table Mountain’, 1919 (ff 164v-167)
- ‘No. 10. Notes on the Geology of the Country between Tazah Khurmatu and Tauq [Tukhama Khulu]’, 1919 (ff 182-185)
- ‘REPORTS ON THE PROSPECTS OF PETROLEUM IN THE BAGHDAD WILAYAT [Vilayet]’, 1918 (ff 187-201)
- ‘Report No 9. Oil in the Kirkuk Anticline’, 1919 (ff 204-205)
- ‘No 3. Report on the Prospects of Obtaining Oil in the Jab-al-Khanuqah, S.E. of Sharqat [Ash Sharqat]’, 1918 (f 207)
- ‘No 4. Prospects of Obtaining Oil in the Jab-al-Qaiyarah and its continuation, the Jab-al-Najmah’, 1919 (ff 208-209)
- ‘No 5. Possibilities of Obtaining Oil in the Jab-al-Mishrak [Al Mishraq] and Country West of Hammam Ali [Hammam al Ali]’, 1919 (ff 210-211)
- ‘No 6. The Country between Mosul and Quwair [Al Kuwayr] on the Greater Zab, and its Prospects as Oil-producing Territory’, 1919 (ff 211v-212)
- ‘Report No 7. Sulphur near the Confluence of the Greater Zab with the Tigris’, 1919 (f 213)
- ‘No 8. Prospects of Obtaining Oil in the Quwair Dome’, 1919 (ff 213-214)
- ‘Appendix to Report No. 4, on the Jab-al-Qaiyarah Oil-field’, 1919 (f 214v)
- ‘Report on the prospects of obtaining Oil in the Jabal-Hamrin and Jabal- Makhul between Tikrit and Sharqat’, 1918 (ff 217-218)
- ‘Odd Notes on the Country between Tikrit and the Jabal-Hamrin and Jabal Makhul’, 1918 (ff 219-220)
- ‘PRELIMINARY REPORT ON THE PROSPECTS OF PETROLEUM IN THE BAGHDAD WILAYAT’, 1918 (ff 233-236).
Also included in the volume are the following maps and geological drawings:
- ‘TO ACCOMPANY GEOLOGICAL REPORT MESOPOTAMIA No 8’, 1920 (f 20)
- ‘To ACCOMPANY GEOLOGICAL REPORT MESOPOTAMIA No 8 ON THE SULAIMANIYAH DISTRICT’, 1920 (f 21)
- ‘TO ACCOMPANY GEOLOGICAL REPORT MESOPOTAMIA No: 7a. THE WATER RESOURCES OF THE MANDALI-BADRAH DISTRICT’, 1920 (f 30)
- ‘GEOLOGICAL REPORT (MESOPOTAMIA) No 7 NOTES ON THE UNDERGROUND WATER RESOURCES OF NORTHERN MESOPOTAMIA’, 1920 (f 31)
- ‘TO ACCOMPANY GEOLOGICAL REPORT No 6’, 1920 (f 44)
- ‘TRANSVERSE SECTION. JABAL HAMRIN’ (f 88)
- ‘Diagrammatic Section across Jabal Hamrine [Hamrin] in the Table mountain area, shewing [showing] relationship of Pos Tertray [Post-Tertiary] Gravel to the Tertainis [Tertiaries]’ (f 168)
- ‘Red Clay & Sandstone Series Transverse section across Jabal Gilbat’ (f 169)
- ‘QĀRAH TAPPAH’, 1918 (f 170)
- ‘CHINCHĀL-TALISHĀN’, 1918 (f 172)
- ‘SHAHRABĀN’, 1917 (f 174)
- ‘MANSURĪYAH AL JABAL’, 1918 (f 176)
- ‘1 Diagrammatic Section N[orth]. of the Tuz Khurmatu’ (f 183)
- ‘2 Diagrammatic Section oposite [ sic ] Sulaiman Beg, just N[orth]. of the stream’ (f 183)
- ‘3 Diagrammatic Section oposite [ sic ] Sulaiman Beg just S[outh]. of the Stream’ (f 183v)
- ‘Transverse Section across Jabal Nasaz near Gil’ (f 185)
- ‘GEOLOGICAL MAP OF NAFT KHANA DISTRICT OF MESOPOTAMIA’ (f 198)
- ‘THE PETROLEUM DEPOSITS OF HIT’ (f 199)
- ‘GEOLOGICAL RECONNAISSANCE IN N.E. MESOPOTAMIA’ (f 200)
- ‘SECTION FROM SHAHRABAN TO CHAH SURKH [Chiya Surkh]’ (f 201)
- Transverse Section Maps of Jabal Hamrin and Jabal Makhul (f 220).
The volume comprises internal correspondence between British officials of different departments. The principal correspondents are: the Civil Commissioner, Baghdad; the Under-Secretary of State, India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. ; the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. , Baghdad; officers of the Imperial Mineral Resources Bureau; and officers from the Petroleum Department.
The volume includes a divider which gives the subject number, the year the subject file was opened, the subject heading, and a list of correspondence references by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (244 folios)
- Arrangement
The volume’s contents are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the volume.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1 and terminates at the inside back cover with 246; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/10/815
- Title
- File 1450/1919 ‘Mesopotamia & Kurdistan: Geological Reports on’
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, 2r:19v, 22r:29v, 32r:43v, 45r:87v, 89r:167v, 177r:182v, 184r:184v, 186r:197v, 202r:219v, 221r:245v, back-i
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- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
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- Open Government Licence