"كتيّب بلاد الرافدين. المجلد II. ١٩١٧" [‎٤‎٧‎٨] (٥٤٢/٤٨٩)

478
APPENDIX D
Shushtar. The oil-wells here are connected by a pipe-line, 150 miles
long, running down the left side of the Karun past Wais and
Ahwaz, with the refinery at 'Abbadan, situated on Abbadan Island,
upon the left bank of the Shatt el- Arab, some 35 miles above its
mouth.
The Company has also sunk wells at Ahwaz and Neft-i-Safid
('White Oil Springs', some 36-40 miles SSE. of Shushtar). The
Company's geologists are examining other fields, and the reports are
said to be promising.
It is not known where these experiments have been conducted,
but it seems very probable that there is much oil throughout the
gypsum and sandstone country, the ranges of which run NW.-SE.
between the plains of Arabistan and the high Bakhtiyari mountains.
Oil and bitumen are collected by the natives at various springs:
e. g. at Mesjid-i-Suleiman, 4 miles NE. of Maidan-i-Naftun, and at
Shardin, 8 miles E. of Ramuz (Ram Hormuz).
Commercial
The Anglo-Persian Oil Company holds a concession giving it the
exclusive right to bore for oil in Persia, except in the northern
provinces of Azarbaijan, Gilan, Mazandaran, Astarabad, and
Khorasan.
In view of the importance of establishing a Government-controlled
oil-field for supplying the needs of the Royal Navy, &c., the British
Government has invested heavily in the Company, and in consi
deration of this financial support conditions have been made in
order to give the Government a voice in the direction of the Com
pany's general policy, and in the supervision of the further develop
ment of the concession.
Apart from small operations in the Qasr-i-Shlrin district intended
merely to supply the local market (see p. 482, below), the Company's
production has been limited entirely or almost entirely to the
Maidan-i-Naftun field. Borings have taken place elsewhere, e .g. at
Ahwaz and at Neft-i-Safid, but it appears that production for export
has not yet been attempted at these places.
At Maidan-i-Naftun an area of about 6-| square miles has been
proved , and it is hoped that eventually 350—400 wells may be
drilled there. The difficulty so far has been that the few wells
already tapped have yielded much more oil than could be carried
by the pipe-line or stored at the refinery: so that, great quantities
of oil had to be burnt. In 1914 two wells alone, though shut down