SoA TR Oll WT We MIDDLE EAST ITS DISCOVERY AND DEVELOPMENT BY STEPHEN HEMSLEY LONGRIGG SECOND EDITION O tempora recordationis dignissima. FULCHER OF CHARTRES Issued under the auspices of the Royal Institute of International Affairs OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON NEW YORK TORONTO 1961e 3479 Oxford University Press, Amen House, London E.C.4 GLASGOW NEW YORK TORONTO MELBOURNE, WELLINGTON BOMBAY CALCUTTA MADRAS KARACHI KUALA LUMPUR (CAPE TOWN IBADAN NAIROBI ACCRA New material in this edition © Royal Institute of International Affairs 1961 HDISFS E55 66 4964 First edition 1954 Second impression 1955 Second edition 1962 REPRINTED BY LITHOGRAPHY IN GREAT BRITAIN BY JARROLD AND SONS LTD, NORWICHPREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION NUMBER of minor alterations and corrections were made in. A the second impression (1955) of this book, and the oppor- tunity of this Second Edition is taken to make a few more, where friends and critics have indicated the need for these. The main function of the present edition is, however, to continue the narrative of the ‘discovery-and development’ of Middle Eastern oil from early 1953 (at which point the previous edition stopped) to mid-1960. This has involved the substitution of one chapter and the addition of five more. It is hoped that this considerable addition of recent information will increase the value of the book for those for whom it is intended: that is, all to whom a fairly full, but non-technical, account of a rapid and remarkable indus- trial development, in a highly sensitive and important region of the world, is of interest. Judging by the kind reception given to the First Edition, and the extent to which it has been used and quoted by subsequent writers, it can hope to be of some further value in its limited and unpretentious function. Some changes have been made in the Appendixes; the maps are all new, and in the preparation of these the kind assistance of the Petroleum Times is gratefully acknowledged. The folding map has very kindly been supplied by the Shell International Petroleum Company Ltd. August 1960 Sar PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION HE writer who hopes to interest and to instruct by the story | of petroleum development in the Middle East starts, what- ever his personal shortcomings, with four advantages im- plicit in his subject. The first is the importance of petroleum itself; no single substance, as all admit, is more vital to every material activity of our civilization, peaceful or warlike, or more certain of a future of yet greater utility and value. The second is the speed, scale, and the industrial romance of oil discovery and exploitation in the Middle East in recent years which have led it to become, in two decades, a vital factor in world economics. The third is the international significance of the existence of this form of v